Coyotes

Two of the best and most popular rookies in recent WNBA memory provided basketball fans the most expensive game in WNBA&rsquo;s history &ndash; and it did not disappoint.&nbsp;
Rookie sensation Caitlin Clark and her Indiana Fever bested rookie rebounding machine Angel Reese and her Chicago Sky 100-71 Friday night in Chicago.
Clark, this year&rsquo;s top overall pick, stuffed the stat sheet yet again as she poured in a career-high 31 points on 8-14 FG, 5-9 3PT, 12 assists, and 4 rebounds. This is Clark&rsquo;s 5th game this year with 20+ points and 10+ assists, which would be the most of such games in a single season in WNBA history. Clark also passed Ticha Penicheiro for the most 10+ assist games by a Rookie in WNBA history. But more importantly, the win pulled the Fever to a .500 record at 16-16 and currently the 6th seed in the tight race to the playoffs.
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Caitlin Clark tonight: 🟥 31 PTS (career-high) 🟥 8-14 FG 🟥 5-9 3PT 🟥 12 AST 🟥 4 REB ROTY debate over 🔥 <a href="https://t.co/x49rJaZT4P">pic.twitter.com/x49rJaZT4P</a>
&mdash; BasketballNews.com (@basketbllnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews/status/1829701500941271345?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 31, 2024</a>
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Reese on the other hand continued making history on her own by setting a new rookie record with 23 double-doubles, surpassing Tina Charles' previous record of 22 set in 2010. The 7th overall pick of this year&rsquo;s draft had 10 points and 11 rebounds in the loss.&nbsp;
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A historic performance by Angel Reese, even in defeat: ⬛ 10 PTS ⬛ 11 REB Angel Reese sets a new <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WNBA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WNBA</a> rookie record with 23 double-doubles, surpassing Tina Charles' previous record of 22 set in 2010 🔥 <a href="https://t.co/leKcULTDBB">pic.twitter.com/leKcULTDBB</a>
&mdash; BasketballNews.com (@basketbllnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews/status/1829704082006925614?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 31, 2024</a>
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The game featured in what has been the highest get-in ticket game in the WNBA&rsquo;s history &ndash; a whopping $863 average price.&nbsp;
The game also may have effectively ended the Rookie of the Year race with how it has been pushed by the media considering each rookie&rsquo;s stellar performances. Clark has been the all-around superstar Indiana has asked for as they have turned to a playoff team this year following a cellar-dwelling finish just a season ago. Reese on the other hand, has been putting up rebounding numbers never before seen from a rookie and even leads the league in rebounds overall, even grabbing more than reigning MVP and 6-foot-4 A&rsquo;Ja Wilson herself.
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The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WNBA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WNBA</a> regular season head-to-head matchup between Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese has officially wrapped up 👀 Caitlin Clark's performance tonight: 📈 31 PTS | 8-14 FG | 5-9 3PT | 12 AST | 4 REB Angel Reese's performance tonight: 📉 10 PTS | 4-9 FG | 0-1 3PT | 2 AST | 11 REB&hellip; <a href="https://t.co/8AvUlVnNXD">pic.twitter.com/8AvUlVnNXD</a>
&mdash; BasketballNews.com (@basketbllnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews/status/1829758181599572164?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 31, 2024</a>
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Indiana&rsquo;s win also assured the Fever won the season series against the Sky, 3-1, after four such blockbuster matchups this season.
However, it wasn&rsquo;t just the rookies who made history in today&rsquo;s slate of games &ndash; the best of the best did too. New York Liberty&rsquo;s Breanna Stewart surpassed Lauren Jackson (27) for 3rd most 30+ point games in WNBA history with her 28th 30-point game. Stewart had 32 points on an efficient 10-16 shooting with 6 rebounds and 5 assists in the Liberty&rsquo;s 98-85 win against the Seattle Storm.&nbsp;
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Breanna Stewart tonight: ⬜ 32 PTS ⬜ 10-16 FG ⬜ 6 AST ⬜ 5 REB Passed Lauren Jackson (27) for 3rd most 30+ point games in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WNBA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WNBA</a> history 👏🏼 <a href="https://t.co/8A7xSCMpza">pic.twitter.com/8A7xSCMpza</a>
&mdash; BasketballNews.com (@basketbllnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews/status/1829752813456650751?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 31, 2024</a>
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Best player in the world A&rsquo;Ja Wilson also had herself a night with a dominant 26-point, 16-rebound, 5-assist, and 5-block showing in the Las Vegas Aces&rsquo; win over the Atlanta Dream as they clinched their playoff spot.&nbsp;
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A'ja Wilson with another dominant night: ⬛ 26 PTS ⬛ 16 REB ⬛ 5 AST ⬛ 5 BLK ⬛ W vs. Dream Aces have clinched their spot in the 2024 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WNBA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WNBA</a> Playoffs 🔥 <a href="https://t.co/PwvVp88KPk">pic.twitter.com/PwvVp88KPk</a>
&mdash; BasketballNews.com (@basketbllnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/basketbllnews/status/1829752705314930808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 31, 2024</a>
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New York sits comfortably at the top of the standings at 27-6, while defending champions Las Vegas is currently at 4th with a 19-12 record.

Two of the best and most popular rookies in recent WNBA memory provided basketball fans the most expensive game in the WNBA.

Caitlin Clark, Fever best Angel Reese, Sky in most expensive WNBA game ever

After a long four-month offseason, the 2023-24 NBA season officially kicks off on October 24. Preseason action is currently underway, with teams evaluating their roster and getting ready for the start of the regular season.
There were a few roster rule changes of note this offseason that were introduced as part of the new CBA. Now, each team can sign up to three two-way players (up from two) who are able to play up to 50 games with their NBA team and spend the rest of their season in the G League. Also, offseason rosters were originally limited to 20 players but have since increased to 21.&nbsp;
Each team needs to be at 15 standard contracts prior to the start of the season, which means a few players on guaranteed deals will have to be cut prior to the season. While some teams have a pretty set roster, others (like the Oklahoma City Thunder) will be forced to part ways with talented players to reach their roster limit.&nbsp;
Looking at the Atlantic Division, let's see how each team&rsquo;s lineup is shaping up and what questions they may need to answer before the start of the season.
(This is part one of a six-part series, with more divisional previews coming soon).
<h1>BOSTON CELTICS</h1>
Outside of the top-six players, who will be the most reliable depth option?
After acquiring Jrue Holiday, the Boston Celtics may have the best top-six of any team in the league. While we can add the Holiday trade to their list of aggressive offseason transactions, their depth has taken somewhat of a step back.&nbsp;
They will have to replace four rotation players from last year&rsquo;s Conference Finals team with a few players who don&rsquo;t have much experience in playoff situations. Three players who should definitely see more minutes are Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser and Luke Kornet. Pritchard has played well on both ends of the floor when given an opportunity, notably shooting 40% from three-point range over his first three seasons. The Celtics rewarded him with a team-friendly extension that should see him take up about 5% of the salary cap over the next four years. Hauser has also been a stellar three-point shooter, knocking down 42% since coming into the league.&nbsp;
The frontcourt is probably the most notable weakness on the team&rsquo;s depth chart. Joe Mazzulla has expressed confidence that <a href="https://www.celticsblog.com/2023/10/7/23907608/boston-celtics-depth-sam-hauser-luke-kornet-payton-pritchard-joe-mazzulla-blake-griffin-bus-one-boys" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kornet should be successful on both ends of the floor and will be their go-to backup center to start the season.</a> The preseason will be important in determining who else (i.e. Oshae Brissett, Jordan Walsh, Svi Mykhailiuk, etc.) may stand out for Mazzulla and get an opportunity for playing time behind Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis.&nbsp;
Roster Decisions
The Celtics have the least amount of players on guaranteed contracts in the league (10). However, their roster for opening night is likely set unless they want to open up flexibility to sign other veteran players or buyout candidates later this season. If they choose to cut someone, it would very likely be a player on a non-guaranteed deal. Mykhailiuk and Dalano Banton each have a partial $200,000 guarantee that increases to over $1,000,000 if they make the roster. Kornet, Wenyen Gabriel and Lamar Stevens all have non-guaranteed contracts.&nbsp;
Rotation
Current Roster Count: 19 players (10 guaranteed, 2 partially guaranteed, 3 non-guaranteed, 3 two-way, 1 Exhibit-10)
Projected Starters: G Jrue Holiday, G/F Jaylen Brown, F Jayson Tatum, F/C Al Horford, F/C Kristaps Porzingis
Projected Rotation Players: G Derrick White, G Payton Pritchard, C Luke Kornet (non-guaranteed), F Sam Hauser, F Oshae Brissett
Projected Reserves: F Jordan Walsh, G/F Svi Mykhailiuk ($200K guaranteed), F Wenyen Gabriel (non-guaranteed), G Dalano Banton ($200K guaranteed), F Lamar Stevens (non-guaranteed)
Projected Two-Way Players: C Neemias Queta, G JD Davison, G Jay Scrubb (Injured)
Projected Roster Cuts: G DJ Steward (Exhibit-10)
<h1>BROOKLYN NETS</h1>
What is Ben Simmons' role?
Ben Simmons has only played 42 games since being acquired by the Nets in February 2022, dealing with physical and psychological hurdles that have made him somewhat of an afterthought. Head coach Jacque Vaughn has expressed confidence that Simmons is now 100% healthy and ready to contribute again at a high level.&nbsp;
He seems to be penciled in as the team&rsquo;s starting point guard, starting in the Nets&rsquo; first preseason game. Though it was just a small 14-minute sample size, Simmons looked a lot like his former All-Star self. Having not played since February 15, he looked athletic, aggressive and confident before sitting out the second half.&nbsp;
&ldquo;He attacked the rim, I think he played with pace, looked pretty natural out there getting up and down the floor, communicating with guys into the flow of the game,&rdquo; Vaughn said, <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/10/10/ben-simmons-passes-eye-test-in-nets-preseason-opener/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">praising his $38-million man</a>. &ldquo;Really good to see.&rdquo;
Vaughn has some options when it comes to starting lineups where he could go smaller, with a backcourt of Simmons and Spencer Dinwiddie, or decide to start Dorian Finney-Smith and use Mikal Bridges as a big two-guard.&nbsp;
Roster Decisions
Darius Bazley, Harry Giles and Trendon Watford are all on non-guaranteed deals and are vying for the final two roster spots. The Nets also have an open two-way spot, which I believe they could potentially use on a player like <a href="https://www.si.com/college/tennessee/mens-basketball/kennedy-chandler-starring-in-nba-summer-league" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Summer League standout</a> and former Memphis Grizzlies second-rounder Kennedy Chandler.&nbsp;
Rotation
Current Roster Count: 18 players (13 guaranteed, 3 non-guaranteed, 2 two-way)
Projected Starters: G/F Ben Simmons, G Spencer Dinwiddie, F Mikal Bridges, F Cameron Johnson, C Nicolas Claxton
Projected Rotation Players: F Dorian Finney-Smith, F Royce O&rsquo;Neale, G Cameron Thomas, G Dennis Smith Jr., C Day&rsquo;Ron Sharpe
Projected Reserves: G/F Lonnie Walker IV, C Noah Clowney, F Dariq Whitehead, F Darius Bazley (Non-Guaranteed), C Harry Giles (Non-Guaranteed)
Projected Two-way Players: G Armoni Brooks, F Jalen Wilson, G Kennedy Chandler* (Projected Signing)
Projected Roster Cuts: F Trendon Watford (Non-Guaranteed)
<h1>NEW YORK KNICKS</h1>
Who will be the first option off the bench?
New York Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau has his fair share of options to headline his second unit. In his third year, Immanuel Quickley had his best season to date, finishing as the runner-up for the Sixth Man of the Year award behind Malcolm Brogdon. Quickley was the primary scorer for the second unit, but he shouldn&rsquo;t have to carry the entire load on offense with the addition of Donte DiVincenzo.&nbsp;
DiVincenzo impressed last season with the Golden State Warriors as a reliable bench shooter and should spot minutes for Quentin Grimes and R.J. Barrett when offensive pushes are needed. Josh Hart could also be the team&rsquo;s sixth man, just like he was during the Knicks&rsquo; playoff run. After being traded from Portland, Hart averaged 30 minutes per game despite coming off the bench most of the time. It is worth noting the Knicks-Villanova connection between Hart, DiVincenzo and Jalen Brunson, who should fit seamlessly together on the floor thanks to their pre-existing chemistry. While unlikely to be the first off the bench, Isaiah Hartenstein also deserves mention since he has been one of the league&rsquo;s better backup centers and could see more time if Mitchell Robinson gets in foul trouble. In terms of rotation issues, Thibodeau should see this as a good problem to have regardless of who he brings off the bench first.&nbsp;
Roster Decisions
The Knicks have three spots up for grabs between Ryan Arcidiacono, DaQuan Jeffries, Isaiah Roby and Duane Washington Jr. All are on non-guaranteed deals that won&rsquo;t be fully guaranteed until the league-wide guarantee date on January 10.&nbsp;
Rotation
Current Roster Count: 21 players (12 guaranteed, 4 non-guaranteed, 3 two-way, 2 Exhibit-10)
Projected Starters: G Jalen Brunson, G Quentin Grimes, G/F R.J. Barrett, F Julius Randle, C Mitchell Robinson
Projected Rotation Players: G Josh Hart, G Immanuel Quickley, G Donte DiVincenzo, C Isaiah Hartenstein, G Miles McBride
Projected Reserves: G Evan Fournier, C Jericho Sims, F Isaiah Roby (non-guaranteed), G Ryan Arcidiacono (non-guaranteed), G/F DaQuan Jeffries (non-guaranteed)
Projected Two-way Players: F/C Nathan Knight, G/F Dylan Windler, F Jaylen Martin
Projected Roster Cuts: G Duane Washington Jr. (non-guaranteed), G Charlie Brown Jr. (Exhibit-10), F Jacob Toppin (Exhibit-10)
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<h1>PHILADELPHIA 76ERS</h1>
Will Tyrese Maxey become more of a creator and how can that adjust the rotation?
The Sixers&rsquo; ceiling is contingent on how much Tyrese Maxey can improve this season. Maxey hasn&rsquo;t needed to be the team&rsquo;s primary distributor since James Harden joined the team, allowing him to blossom into a reliable 20-PPG scorer. Regardless of whether Harden&rsquo;s trade situation is resolved, Maxey will need to become a better creator and distributor if he wants to take his game to the next level. Prior to Harden&rsquo;s arrival, Maxey had an impressive 4:1 assist-to-turnover ratio despite his small frame and risk-averse tendencies.&nbsp;
Interestingly, team president Daryl Morey has held off on giving Maxey an extension this offseason, electing to wait until next summer to pay his budding young guard. Maxey will likely demand near max-level money that could harm Philly&rsquo;s flexibility to go after star players next offseason. If he can improve his ball-handling and distribution tendencies, the Sixers&rsquo; offense should benefit tremendously, helping the offensive output of players like P.J. Tucker and Paul Reed and easing the reliance on De&rsquo;Anthony Melton and Patrick Beverley.
Roster Decisions
Two players will likely be fighting for the Sixers&rsquo; final roster spot. The team re-signed veteran Danny Green, who played for the team from 2020 to 2022, to a non-guaranteed deal. They also brought over young big Filip Petrusev, who was drafted by Philadelphia in 2021. Petrusev signed a multi-year deal that was partially guaranteed for $559,782 this season and non-guaranteed next year. Although unlikely, the 76ers could also elect to waive Montrezl Harrell despite his deal being fully guaranteed, as he should miss this season with a torn ACL.
Rotation
Current Roster Count: 21 players (14 guaranteed, 1 partially Guaranteed, 1 non-guaranteed, 3 two-way, 2 Exhibit-10)
Projected Starters: G Tyrese Maxey, G James Harden, F P.J. Tucker, F Tobias Harris, C Joel Embiid
Projected Rotation Players: G De&rsquo;Anthony Melton, G Patrick Beverley, F/C Paul Reed, F/G Kelly Oubre Jr., F Danuel House
Projected Reserves: C Mo Bamba, F Furkan Korkmaz, G Jaden Springer, G/F Danny Green (non-guaranteed), C Montrezl Harrell (injured)
Projected Two-way Players: G Terquavion Smith, G Ricky Council IV, F Azuolas Tubelis
Projected Roster Cuts: F/C Filip Petrusev ($559,782 guaranteed), G David Duke Jr. (Exhibit-10), G Javonte Smart (Exhibit-10)
<h1>TORONTO RAPTORS</h1>
What style does Darko Rajakovic bring to Toronto and who will benefit the most?
New coach Darko Rajakovic inherits an interesting Raptors team with plenty of talent, but they may be facing a crossroads in terms of how successful they can be as a group. Rajakovic is in his first NBA head coaching gig after three seasons as an assistant with the Grizzlies and is known around the league as a pick-and-roll guru.&nbsp;
The idea of the Raptors being a primary pick-and-roll team became less appealing when they were unable to retain Fred VanVleet in free agency, replacing him with a less reliable shooter in Dennis Schr&ouml;der. Instead, Rajakovic will likely rely on Schr&ouml;der and his newly paid center Jakob Poeltl for more ball movement and playmaking. Rajakovic compared Poeltl to Domantas Sabonis before the Raptors&rsquo; preseason win over the Sacramento Kings on October 9 and could use him in a similar role. If Poeltl can be 70% of what Sabonis was last season, it can be a huge boost to an inconsistent offense.
Roster Decisions
The Raptors have 15 players on guaranteed deals going into the season, but also carry Jeff Dowtin Jr. on a non-guaranteed deal. Dowtin played on a two-way contract with Toronto last season, appearing in 25 games. With the roster full, Dowtin is unlikely to make the regular-season roster but he has still <a href="https://www.si.com/nba/raptors/news/toronto-raptors-praise-jeff-dowtin-jr-as-roster-decisions-await" target="_blank" rel="noopener">impressed the coaching staff this preseason</a>. If any player is in danger of losing their roster spot to Dowtin, it would likely be former first-round pick Malachi Flynn. Dowtin&rsquo;s deal becomes guaranteed for $900,000 on October 21, four days before the team&rsquo;s season opener against the Minnesota Timberwolves. I would expect the Raptors to make a decision on Dowtin before then.&nbsp;
Rotation
Current Roster Count: 21 players (15 guaranteed, 1 non-guaranteed, 3 two-way, 2 Exhibit-10)
Projected Starters: G Dennis Schr&ouml;der, F/G Scottie Barnes, F OG Anunoby, F Pascal Siakam, C Jakob Poeltl
Projected Rotation Players: G Gary Trent Jr., F Precious Achiuwa, F/C Chris Boucher, F Jalen McDaniels, G/F Gradey Dick
Projected Reserves: F Thaddeus Young, G Malachi Flynn, F Otto Porter Jr., C Christian Koloko, G/F Garrett Temple
Projected Two-way Players: G/F Ron Harper Jr., G Markquis Nowell, G Javon Freeman-Liberty
Projected Roster Cuts: G Jeff Dowtin (non-guaranteed), F Mouhamadou Gueye (Exhibit-10), C Makur Maker (Exhibit-10)
Other news from around the web: <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/dress-to-impress-why-barbie-and-ken-are-the-hottest-couples-costume-this-halloween/ar-AA1iaTEh" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Barbie and Ken are the hottest couples costume this Halloween</a>

Blake Stern previews the Atlantic Division, breaking down each team's projected lineup and a burning question entering the season.

NBA Atlantic Division Preview: Burning questions, rotation projections

It&rsquo;s the easiest call of the&nbsp;<a class="paragraph-link" href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-draft-2023-wembanyama-b3449d1a5f7a7de5906bb1979ffb2a26">NBA draft</a>: The San Antonio Spurs won.
That&rsquo;s not to say other teams didn&rsquo;t do very well on Thursday, when 58 players were selected as the league&rsquo;s newest members. But the Spurs being able to take generational French talent Victor Wembanyama puts them at the head of the class.
Some of the teams that also did well: NBA champion Denver, Golden State, Toronto &mdash; even with just one pick &mdash; and Orlando, which might now be closer to returning to the postseason mix.
A breakdown of which teams had Excellent drafts, those that had Good drafts and others that will have to Wait and See:
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-81 h2 Component-p-0-2-71">EXCELLENT</h2>
<h3 class="Component-root-0-2-81 h3 Component-p-0-2-71">DALLAS MAVERICKS</h3>
Picks: Dereck Lively II (12, via trade); Olivier-Maxence Prosper (24, via trade).
Dallas got the big man it wanted and created opportunity by moving Davis Bertans. Hard to argue that it wasn&rsquo;t a good night. And now free agency awaits. Prosper is another player with big potential and was extremely hard to guard at Marquette.
Picks: Julian Strawther (29), Jalen Pickett (32, will be acquired via trade), Hunter Tyson (37),
Pickett should have gone in the first round. He&rsquo;s that good, and the NBA champions just got another do-it-all guy who will also serve as insurance should Bruce Brown leave in free agency.
<h3 class="Component-root-0-2-81 h3 Component-p-0-2-71">DETROIT PISTONS</h3>
Picks: Ausar Thompson (5), Marcus Sasser (25, via trade), James Nnaji (31)
No matter what, the Pistons were going to get better and deeper on Thursday night. Thompson is incredibly athletic (even by NBA standards) and plays defense with a ton of energy.
<h3 class="Component-root-0-2-81 h3 Component-p-0-2-71">GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS</h3>
Picks: Brandin Podziemski (19), Trayce Jackson-Davis (57, via trade)
Play to your strength, and the Warriors got another shooter to add to the mix with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. Podziemski could add something right away, and came to Golden State on the same day that the Warriors swung a deal for Chris Paul by sending Jordan Poole to Washington.
<h3 class="Component-root-0-2-81 h3 Component-p-0-2-71">HOUSTON ROCKETS</h3>
Picks: Amen Thompson (4), Cam Whitmore (20)
Thompson is a great move and gives Detroit another great option as it builds. If Whitmore is healthy, then Houston got an absolute steal by getting the Villanova forward at No. 20.
<h3 class="Component-root-0-2-81 h3 Component-p-0-2-71">OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER</h3>
Picks: Cason Wallace (10, via trade), Keyontae Johnson (50)
Wallace was great for Kentucky in his lone college season and played perhaps his best game in the Wildcats&rsquo; finale in the NCAA tournament. He can score; he didn&rsquo;t look to score quite often enough at times in college.
<h3 class="Component-root-0-2-81 h3 Component-p-0-2-71">ORLANDO MAGIC</h3>
Picks: Anthony Black (6), Jett Howard (11)
Paolo Banchero got a couple more shooters to help him out, and the young and talented Magic got more young talent. An excellent night again and it&rsquo;s time to start thinking about Orlando as a team that should make a run at the play-in &mdash; at minimum.
<h3 class="Component-root-0-2-81 h3 Component-p-0-2-71">SAN ANTONIO SPURS</h3>
Picks: Victor Wembanyama (1), Sidy Cissoko (44).
Their grade was secured at the very moment that the last ping-pong ball appeared at the lottery last month. Wembanyama was a no-brainer, and now it&rsquo;s up to the Spurs to start the real work &mdash; get him into the gym, see how he fits, and figure out what the plan is going forward.
<h3 class="Component-root-0-2-81 h3 Component-p-0-2-71">TORONTO RAPTORS</h3>
Pick: Gradey Dick (13)
Dick showed up to the draft in a red-and-black jacket &mdash; a nod to Dorothy from &ldquo;The Wizard of Oz&rdquo; and his Kansas roots. The color scheme will work in Toronto as well. Dick is a pure shooter, and no team can have too many of those. The jury&rsquo;s still out on what the Raptors will be this coming season, but this kid will be a rotation piece.
<h3 class="Component-root-0-2-81 h3 Component-p-0-2-71">UTAH JAZZ</h3>
Picks: Taylor Hendricks (9), Keyonte George (16), Brice Sensabaugh (28)
Hendricks is what an NBA big pretty much is now; a power forward who can also defend centers. George was the Big 12 rookie of the year at Baylor and is a proven scorer. He&rsquo;s good from the line, has 3-point potential and can get to the rim. There&rsquo;s some work to do, but he&rsquo;s a serious prospect.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-81 h2 Component-p-0-2-71">GOOD</h2>
<h3 class="Component-root-0-2-81 h3 Component-p-0-2-71">BROOKLYN NETS</h3>
Picks: Noah Clowney (21), Dariq Whitehead (22), Jalen Wilson (51)
Clowney is an athletic big from Alabama whose game is still a bit unfinished. Whitehead has enormous potential and was highly recruited by Duke, but foot issues are a concern. Wilson was the Big 12 player of the year at Kansas. The Nets likely didn&rsquo;t choose three elite programs accidentally. Lot to like here.
<h3 class="Component-root-0-2-81 h3 Component-p-0-2-71">CHARLOTTE HORNETS</h3>
Picks: Brandon Miller (2), Nick Smith Jr. (27), Amari Bailey (41).
Miller made sense over Scoot Henderson because the Hornets have a point guard already. But Henderson might be the more NBA-ready player.
<h3 class="Component-root-0-2-81 h3 Component-p-0-2-71">INDIANA PACERS</h3>
Picks: Jarace Walker (8, via trade), Ben Sheppard (26), Julian Strawther (29), Mojave King (47, via trade), Isaiah Wong (55)
Walker plays hard on both ends, and this is rare to say, but he might play harder on defense than he does on offense. And getting Wong &mdash; the ACC player of the year &mdash; so late is a steal.
<h3 class="Component-root-0-2-81 h3 Component-p-0-2-71">LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS</h3>
Picks: Kobe Brown (30), Jordan Miller (48)
Brown is a strong player, addicted to rebounding, and probably needs to improve considerably on the offensive end. Miller did a little of everything for the Miami Hurricanes in their run to the Final Four.
<h3 class="Component-root-0-2-81 h3 Component-p-0-2-71">LOS ANGELES LAKERS</h3>
Picks: Jalen Hood-Schifino (17), Maxwell Lewis (40, via trade).
Hood-Schifino got NBA coaching in college last season; Indiana is coached by Mike Woodson. He&rsquo;s a winner; his high school teams won, his Indiana team went to the NCAA Tournament and he&rsquo;ll obviously benefit from time with LeBron James.
<h3 class="Component-root-0-2-81 h3 Component-p-0-2-71">MIAMI HEAT</h3>
Pick: Jaime Jaquez Jr. (18)
A four-year college player whose game got more complete each year, Jaquez has a notorious work ethic that should fit in quite well with the Eastern Conference champions.
<h3 class="Component-root-0-2-81 h3 Component-p-0-2-71">NEW ORLEANS PELICANS</h3>
Pick: Jordan Hawkins (14)
Hawkins was a big part of UConn&rsquo;s team that won the national title last spring, earning his way onto the All-Tournament team. New Orleans got a winner.
<h3 class="Component-root-0-2-81 h3 Component-p-0-2-71">PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS</h3>
Picks: Scoot Henderson (3), Kris Murray (23), Rayan Rupert (43).
Henderson has shown that he&rsquo;s NBA-ready. The Blazers drafted well. But really, the only question now is whether Damian Lillard is happy or not. Murray is the twin brother of Sacramento&rsquo;s Keegan Murray and had a big season for Iowa &mdash; averaging just over 20 points per game.
<h3 class="Component-root-0-2-81 h3 Component-p-0-2-71">WASHINGTON WIZARDS</h3>
Picks: Bilal Coulibaly (7, via trade), Tristan Vukcevic (42)
The Wizards are starting over, and on the day they also agreed to acquire Jordan Poole from Golden State they just happened to get a French player. (No, not that one.) But Coulibaly is highly touted by No. 1 pick Victor Wembanyama, and that&rsquo;s enough of an endorsement for us.
<h2 class="Component-root-0-2-81 h2 Component-p-0-2-71">WAIT AND SEE</h2>
<h3 class="Component-root-0-2-81 h3 Component-p-0-2-71">ATLANTA HAWKS</h3>
Picks: Kobe Bufkin (15), Mouhamed Gueye (39, via trade), Seth Lundy (46)
Bufkin had a great second half of the season at Michigan, and left-handers always provide defenses with an extra challenge. The best way to describe his game is this: He doesn&rsquo;t do much wrong. Very solid, can help the Hawks in a lot of ways.
<h3 class="Component-root-0-2-81 h3 Component-p-0-2-71">BOSTON CELTICS</h3>
Picks: James Njaji (31, via trade), Jordan Walsh (38, via trade)
Still only 18, Njaji started playing the game about seven years ago and is not even close to reaching his potential yet. Big prospect.
<h3 class="Component-root-0-2-81 h3 Component-p-0-2-71">CHICAGO BULLS</h3>
Pick: Julian Phillips (35, via trade)
The Bulls had to forfeit what would have been their pick because of free-agency violations last summer, and swung a deal with Boston to land the Tennessee wing.
<h3 class="Component-root-0-2-81 h3 Component-p-0-2-71">CLEVELAND CAVALIERS</h3>
Pick: Emoni Bates (49)
He was touted as a star since basically middle school, had more than his share of promising moments in college, and now has to really prove himself.
<h3 class="Component-root-0-2-81 h3 Component-p-0-2-71">MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES</h3>
Picks: Gregory Jackson II (45), Tarik Biberovic (56)
Prospects. They&rsquo;re not expected to provide any real help anytime soon.
<h3 class="Component-root-0-2-81 h3 Component-p-0-2-71">MILWAUKEE BUCKS</h3>
Picks: Andre Jackson (36, via trade), Chris Livingston (58)
Jackson was a big part of UConn&rsquo;s national championship. He&rsquo;s only going to benefit from being around Giannis Antetokounmpo every day.
<h3 class="Component-root-0-2-81 h3 Component-p-0-2-71">MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES</h3>
Picks: Leonard Miller (33, via trade), Jaylen Clark (53)
Miller had a lot of big moments playing with Scoot Henderson and the G League Ignite this past season. Athleticism is tough to ignore.
<h3 class="Component-root-0-2-81 h3 Component-p-0-2-71">NEW YORK KNICKS</h3>
No picks.
<h3 class="Component-root-0-2-81 h3 Component-p-0-2-71">PHILADELPHIA 76ERS</h3>
No picks.
<h3 class="Component-root-0-2-81 h3 Component-p-0-2-71">PHOENIX SUNS</h3>
Pick: Toumani Camara (52)
Given the trades that they&rsquo;re making, this might be one of their last picks for quite some time. There&rsquo;s nothing wrong with not valuing the draft, but giving up on it entirely is a dangerous game to play too often.
<h3 class="Component-root-0-2-81 h3 Component-p-0-2-71">SACRAMENTO KINGS</h3>
Picks: Colby Jones (34, via trade), Jalen Slawson (54)
Jones has skills the Kings crave; great shooter, great passing and great vision. A young Kevin Huerter-type in those regards.

Which teams came away from the 2023 NBA Draft as big winners? Check out the AP's draft report cards.

NBA draft report cards: Spurs, Rockets among teams that hit it big

The NBA announced that 242 players have filed as early-entry candidates for the 2023 NBA Draft. Here is the complete list.

NBA announces 242 early-entry candidates for 2023 NBA Draft

Cinderella teams make for great stories and busted brackets. They don&rsquo;t necessarily make for great television ratings, though.
After getting a dream Final Four field last year, CBS and Turner Sports have something&nbsp;very different this weekend with Florida Atlantic, Miami, San Diego State and Connecticut making it to Houston.
The lack of recognizable names could affect the ratings.
Upsets during the first two weeks have seemingly already taken a toll. The tournament is averaging 9.11 million viewers through the regional finals, which is down 6% from last year. This after the first round on March 16-17 averaged 9.2 million, a record for the most-watched round of 64.
Last year&rsquo;s Final Four of Duke, North Carolina, Kansas and Villanova resonated even with casual fans because it was loaded with national brands. It also included Mike Krzyzewski&rsquo;s final tournament as Duke&rsquo;s coach.
This year&rsquo;s group doesn&rsquo;t have the same cachet.
&ldquo;The public is telling us that they would rather see the bluebloods. The ratings support that,&rdquo; said former CBS Sports president Neal Pilson, who now runs his own sports television consulting company. &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s because they&rsquo;re not familiar with teams like San Diego State, Miami or FAU. There was relatively little press attention paid to those teams during the year. Connecticut has a history, but they&rsquo;re the only one of the four that really has had national exposure.&rdquo;
College basketball also isn&rsquo;t different from other sports when it comes to marquee teams translating to bigger audiences.
Two of last year&rsquo;s Final Four games rank among the three most-watched college basketball games in cable TV history. The semifinal matchup between North Carolina and Duke averaged 18.5 million on TBS and ranks second, while Kansas&rsquo; comeback victory over North Carolina averaged 18.1 million.
According to Sports Media Watch, which tracked Final Four ratings to 1975, the Baylor-Houston game from two years ago ranks as the least-watched semifinal at 8.36 million (individual semis started being tracked in 2002).
The low for a title game on CBS is 2004, when 17.09 million watched UConn defeat Georgia Tech. The overall low was in 2018 on TBS, when 15.99 million viewed Villanova&rsquo;s win over Michigan. CBS and TBS began alternating Final Fours in 2016.
Another thing that might factor into ratings this year is that Miami and Florida Atlantic are from the same television markets (Miami/West Palm Beach).
There are signs that suggest the viewer drop won&rsquo;t be as bad. Last Sunday&rsquo;s regional final between Miami and Texas on CBS averaged 11.3 million, which was the most-watched basketball game since last year&rsquo;s deciding game of the NBA Finals.
Also, the 2011 semifinal between Butler and Virginia Commonwealth &mdash; the last time two mid-majors met in a Final Four &mdash; was down only 2% from the 2010 early semi, when Butler beat Michigan State.
&ldquo;UConn is a very well-known program but with the other three, that&rsquo;s where the interesting storylines are,&rdquo; said Tag Garson, senior vice president of properties for Wasserman Media Group. &ldquo;There are pundits who said they were seeded on a line that wasn&rsquo;t reflective enough of the type season they had. There are some tremendous players that will be playing this weekend regardless of which team you are talking about.&rdquo;

How will a Final Four consisting of Florida Atlantic, Miami, San Diego State and Connecticut affect March Madness TV ratings?

Lack of big-name teams could take toll on Final Four ratings

Anyone trying to fill out their NCAA Tournament brackets ought to start by figuring out which teams have the best backcourts.
This has been a guard&rsquo;s event for years.
When Kansas&rsquo; Ochai Agbaji helped the Jayhawks win the national title last season, he became the ninth straight guard to be selected as a Final Four&rsquo;s most outstanding player. The list started with Duke&rsquo;s Tyus Jones in 2015 and continued with Villanova&rsquo;s Ryan Arcidiacono, North Carolina&rsquo;s Joel Berry II, Villanova&rsquo;s Donte DiVincenzo, Virginia&rsquo;s Kyle Guy and Baylor&rsquo;s Jared Butler.
Occasionally a big man can dominate the college basketball landscape the way Anthony Davis did while leading Kentucky to the 2012 title, but they&rsquo;re the exceptions. The NCAA Tournament generally is all about guard play.
Here&rsquo;s a look at six backcourts that merit watching.
BAYLOR: L.J. Cryer, Adam Flagler and Keyonte George.
Baylor won the NCAA Tournament two years ago behind its outstanding backcourt and will try to do it again with a different set of guards. All three of them score at least 14.5 points per game. Flagler was one of five finalists for the Jerry West Award given to the nation&rsquo;s top shooting guard. He also earned AP first-team all-Big 12 honors. George, the best pro prospect in the trio, was a second-team all-Big 12 pick. Baylor ranks second in Division I in adjusted offensive efficiency, a metric measured by college basketball stats guru Ken Pomeroy that essentially translates to points scored per 100 possessions when adjusted for the level of competition.&nbsp;
HOUSTON: Marcus Sasser and Jamal Shead.
Sasser is one of 10 semifinalists for the Naismith Award given to the national player of the year He&rsquo;s eager for this NCAA Tournament showcase after a foot injury ended his 2021-22 season after just 12 games. He injured his groin in the American Athletic Association Tournament and didn&rsquo;t play in Sunday&rsquo;s championship game, so it remains to be seen how close he is to full strength. Sasser has scored over 17 points per game each of the last two seasons. Shead has nearly three times as many assists as turnovers.
KANSAS: Gradey Dick, Dajuan Harris and Kevin McCullar Jr.
The defending national champions had to replace virtually their entire nucleus from last year but still put together an outstanding backcourt to complement forward Jalen Wilson, the AP Big 12 player of the year. Dick, a freshman, is a Jerry West Award finalist, scoring nearly 15 points per game; he arguably is more a small forward at 6-foot-8, but Kansas lists him as a guard. Dick and McCullar both were AP second-team all-Big 12 selections. McCullar, a Texas Tech transfer, has scored in double figures three straight seasons and is pulling down over 7 rebounds per game. Harris is dishing out over 6 assists per game and ranks third among all Division I players in assist-turnover ratio.
MARQUETTE: Kam Jones, Tyler Kolek and Stevie Mitchell.
Kolek, a Naismith Award semifinalist and the Big East player of the year, has 7.7 assists per game and has well over three times as many assists as turnovers. He was named the Big East Tournament MVP. Jones, a second-team AP all-Big East selection, leads Marquette in scoring and makes nearly three 3-pointers per game. Mitchell has over 7 points per game but is best known for his defense. This group helped Marquette win its first Big East outright regular-season title and first Big East Tournament championship.
MIAMI: Jordan Miller, Nijel Pack and Isaiah Wong.
This trio helped Miami win a share of the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title and earn the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament for the first time since 2013. Wong is a Jerry West Award finalist and AP first-team all-ACC pick. He was named ACC player of the year by a 75-member panel including coaches and media representatives. Wong, Miller and Pack are each scoring over 13 points per game.
XAVIER: Souley Boum, Colby Jones and Adam Kunkel.
This trio helped Xavier lead all Division I teams in assists per game. Boum and Jones are each averaging over 4 assists per game, while Kunkel has 3 per game. They&rsquo;re also scoring about a combined 42 points per game. Boum, an AP first-team all-Big East selection, ranks second in the conference in scoring. Jones was an AP second-team all-Big East pick.

A look at six backcourts that merit watching in the upcoming men's NCAA Tournament.

March Madness: 6 backcourts worth watching in 2023 Men's NCAA Tourney

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) &mdash; Sir&rsquo;Jabari Rice scored 20 of his game-high 24 points in the second half and overtime, and No. 6 Texas held off Oklahoma 85-83 on Saturday.
Rice&rsquo;s fourth 3-pointer of the game gave Texas an 84-77 lead with 2:26 left in overtime.
Oklahoma, however, had a chance to tie or win when Texas&rsquo; Tyrese Hunter missed one of two free throws with 6.8 seconds left. But Sam Godwin missed a shot from near the rim, and Texas extended its winning streak against Oklahoma to five games.
Marcus Carr added 17 points for Texas (21-6, 10-4 Big 12), and Timmy Allen had 15 points, nine rebounds and four assists.
Grant Sherfield led Oklahoma (13-14, 3-11) with 18 points, including a 3-pointer that sent the game to overtime. Milos Uzan scored 15 for the Sooners.
NO. 1 ALABAMA 108, GEORGIA 59
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) &mdash; Brandon Miller scored 21 points, Nick Pringle had 19 points and 12 rebounds and Mark Sears made five 3-pointers in the first half to lead Alabama.
The Crimson Tide (23-4, 13-1 Southeastern Conference) rebounded from their first SEC loss by racing to a 54-25 halftime lead and a season scoring high. Alabama was coming off a 68-59 loss at No. 10 Tennessee on Wednesday night after rising to No. 1 for only the second time in program history and first in 20 years.&nbsp;
ustin Hill led Georgia (16-11, 6-8) with 17 points. Terry Roberts scored 11 and Braelen Bridges 10.
NO. 4 UCLA 78, CALIFORNIA 43
LOS ANGELES (AP) &mdash; Jaime Jaquez Jr. scored 20 points and UCLA routed last-place California to improve to 15-0 at Pauley Pavilion this season and extend the nation&rsquo;s longest home winning streak to 23 games.
Amari Bailey added 16 points and nine rebounds for the first-place Bruins (23-4, 14-2 Pac-12), who clinched a first-round bye in next month&rsquo;s Pac-12 Tournament with their 11th win in a row over last-place Cal.
Kuany Kuany scored 14 points to lead the Golden Bears (3-24, 2-14), who dropped their 11th in a row. They fell to 0-3 against top-5 teams this season, having also lost a pair against No. 8 Arizona.
NO. 5 KANSAS 87, NO. 9 BAYLOR 71
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) &mdash; DaJuan Harris scored all 14 of his points in the second half as Kansas stormed back from a double-digit halftime deficit.
The Jayhawks (22-5, 10-4 Big 12) outscored the Bears 55-26 in the second half. Jalen Wilson led Kansas with 21 points and 13 rebounds. KJ Adams added 17 points and Gradey Dick had 16.
The Jayhawks are tied with Texas for the top spot in the Big 12 Conference.
Baylor (20-7, 9-5) got nearly all of its scoring from its three-guard combo of Adam Flagler (22 points) Keyonte George (20 points) and LJ Cryer (15 points).
NO. 7 VIRGINIA 57, NOTRE DAME 55
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) &mdash; Kihei Clark scored 15 points, including a pair of critical free throws with 22.6 seconds left, and became Virginia&rsquo;s career assist leader in the narrow win over Notre Dame.
With Notre Dame closing to 55-54, Clark converted both ends of a one-and-one. Trey Wertz made the front end of a one-and-one with 3.9 seconds left for the Fighting Irish, but missed the second after a timeout. The ball was tipped out to Dane Goodwin for a potential game-winning 3-pointer, but his shot bounced off the rim.
Armaan Franklin added 12 points and Reece Beekman had 11 for Virginia (21-4, 13-3 Atlantic Coast Conference). Nate Laszewski led Notre Dame (10-17, 2-14) with 18 points and Goodwin had 12.
NO. 8 ARIZONA 78, COLORADO 68
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) &mdash; Oumar Ballo had 18 points and 16 rebounds, Cedric Henderson Jr. added 15 points and Arizona dominated inside to beat Colorado.
The Wildcats (24-4, 13-4 Pac-12) opened with a rash of turnovers, falling into an early 12-point hole. Arizona righted itself quickly with a big run and slogged through a slowed-down second half by shutting down the Buffaloes.
Tristan da Silva had 18 points the Buffaloes (15-13, 7-10), who shot 38%.
KENTUCKY 66, NO. 10 TENNESSEE 54
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) &mdash; Cason Wallace and Oscar Tshiebwe each scored 16 points and Kentucky rushed to a big lead and beat Tennessee.
The Volunteers (20-7, 9-5 SEC) trailed by 20 points at halftime and lost in their first game since toppling No. 1 Alabama.
The Wildcats (18-9, 9-5) earned their first regular-season sweep of Tennessee since the 2011-12 season. Kentucky defeated the Volunteers 63-56 on Jan. 14 in Knoxville.
Wallace had totaled nine points in the Wildcats&rsquo; previous two games. Chris Livingston added 12 points and Jacob Toppin had 11.
NO. 12 KANSAS STATE 61, NO. 19 IOWA STATE 55
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) &mdash; Markquis Nowell hit a 3-pointer from near midcourt with 2:42 remaining to help Kansas State over Iowa State.
Nowell finished with 20 points. Keyontae Johnson had 15 points for the Wildcats (20-7, 8-6 Big 12).
Aljaž Kunc led Iowa State (17-9, 8-6) with 15 points. Without their 3-point leader Caleb Grill in the lineup, the Cyclones worked inside the paint. They had 24 points inside and relied on a balanced scoring line led by Kunc.
NO. 13 GONZAGA 97, PEPPERDINE 88
MALIBU, Calif. (AP) &mdash; Drew Timme scored 22 of his 34 points in the second half and Julian Strawther added 28 points to help Gonzaga extend its winning streak over the Waves to 45 games.
The Bulldogs (23-5, 12-2 West Coast Conference), who haven&rsquo;t lost to Pepperdine (9-10, 2-12) since Jan. 18, 2002 and have won 20 straight on the road against the Waves.
Timme moved past Bill Cartwright, who scored 2,116 points for San Francisco (1975-79), into eighth on the West Coast Conference&rsquo;s career scoring list with 2,117.
Houston Mallette led the Waves with 22 points. Jevon Porter and Maxwell Lewis added 20 points apiece.
NO. 14 INDIANA 71, ILLINOIS 68
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) &mdash; Trayce Jackson-Davis finished with 26 points and 12 rebounds, Jalen Hood Schifino made two free throws with 30.7 seconds left, and Indiana rallied from a nine-point second-half deficit to beat Illinois.
Hood-Schifino had 13 points for the Hoosiers (19-8, 10-6 Big Ten), who have won nine of 11 overall and 15 straight on their homecourt.
Matthew Mayer scored 24 to lead the Fighting Illini (17-9, 8-7), who were without injured leading scorer Terrence Shannon.
NO. 15 MIAMI 96, WAKE FOREST 87
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) &mdash; Isaiah Wong scored 27 points and Nijel Pack finished with 24 in Miami&rsquo;s win over Wake Forest.
Norchard Omier had 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting while Jordan Miller added 14 points for the Hurricanes (22-5, 13-4 Atlantic Coast Conference), who won their sixth straight and improved to 15-0 at home.
Tyree Appleby scored 15 points and Damari Monsanto and Cameron Hildreth had 14 each for the Demon Deacons (17-10, 9-7). Andrew Carr and Mathew Marsh finished with 12 points each.
NO. 16 XAVIER 82, DEPAUL 68
CINCINNATI (AP) &mdash; Jack Nunge had 18 points and 10 rebounds as Xavier bounced back from a pair of narrow losses to beat DePaul.
The Musketeers (20-7, 12-4 Big East) reached the 20-win mark for the 34th time in school history, 32 of which have come since the 1982-83 season. It was the 17th career double-double for Nunge, eighth this season. Adam Kunkel scored 16 points and tied a career-high with eight assists for Xavier.
Umoja Gibson had 17 points and De&rsquo;Sean Nelson 16 for DePaul (9-18, 3-13), which lost its eighth in a row.
NO. 17 ST. MARY&rsquo;S 71, BYU 65
MORAGA, Calif. (AP) &mdash; Logan Johnson scored 27 points and Aidan Mahaney delivered once again in the second half to lead Saint Mary&rsquo;s to its 15th win in 16 games.
Mahaney scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half and Mitchell Saxen added 13. The Gaels (24-5, 13-1 West Coast Conference) won their 16th straight conference home game to maintain a one-game lead over Gonzaga in the standings.
Fousseyni Traore scored 16 points to lead the Cougars (16-14, 6-9). BYU has lost four straight and was swept in the season series by the Gaels.
NO. 18 CREIGHTON 77, ST. JOHN&rsquo;S 67
NEW YORK (AP) &mdash; Arthur Kaluma hit three straight 3-pointers down the stretch and Creighton overcame a second-half scoring drought to pull away from St. John&rsquo;s.
Creighton (18-9, 12-4) remained in a three-way tie for second place in the Big East after Providence and Xavier won earlier in the day. Marquette holds a one-game lead in the conference standings.
Ryan Nembhard scored 16 points for the Bluejays. Kaluma finished with 13 points and Ryan Kalkbrenner added 12 as Creighton won for the ninth time in 10 games.
Joel Soriano led St. John&rsquo;s with 15 points and eight rebounds. David Jones added 14 points off the bench but the Red Storm (16-12, 6-11) were unable to get their third straight win.
NO. 20 UCONN 64, SETON HALL 55
STORRS, Conn. (AP) &mdash; Jordan Hawkins scored 20 points and UConn used a big second-half run to beat Seton Hall.
Andre Jackson had a career high 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for UConn (20-7, 9-7 Big East).
Al-Amir Dawes and Tyrese Samuel each had 16 points for Seton Hall (16-12, 9-8), which trailed by 16 points with six minutes to play before a late run that fell short.
NO. 22 TCU 100, OKLAHOMA STATE 75
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) &mdash; Mike Miles Jr. had 15 points in his first game in three weeks, five other TCU players also scored in double figures, and the Horned Frogs snapped a four-game losing streak by beating Oklahoma State.
Emanuel Miller had 18 points to lead TCU (18-9, 7-7 Big 12), which shot a staggering season-high 68.4% (39 of 57) from the field. Damion Baugh had 16 points with 11 assists. Shahada Wells had 15 points, Chuck O&rsquo;Bannon 12 and Micah Peavy 10.
Bryce Thompson had 18 points and John-Michael White 15 for the Cowboys (16-11, 7-7).
NO. 24 PROVIDENCE 85, VILLANOVA 72
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) &mdash; Ed Croswell scored 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and Providence earned its 20th victory of the season.
Bryce Hopkins added 19 points and 12 rebounds. Noah Locked finished with 16 points. Croswell connected on two late free throws to notch the 1,000th point of his career.
The Friars (20-7, 12-4 Big East) have recorded 20 or more wins in seven of coach Ed Cooley&rsquo;s 12 seasons. They improved to 15-0 at home, including 8-0 in conference play.
Eric Dixon had 18 points and eight rebounds and Justin Moore added 17 points for the Wildcats (13-14, 7-9)&nbsp;

A recap of Saturday's action in men's college basketball includes a full slate of top-25 teams in heavy competition.

No. 6 Texas needs OT at home to hold off Oklahoma 85-83

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) &mdash; Dajuan Harris Jr. was willing to acknowledge that Kansas was facing something rare when fifth-ranked and Big 12-leading Texas arrived at Allen Fieldhouse on Monday night: a must-win game.
The defending national champs played like it.
Gradey Dick scored 21 points, Harris had 17 points, six rebounds and five assists, and the ninth-ranked Jayhawks held on after blowing a 14-point first-half lead to beat the Longhorns 88-80 and tighten the league race.
Kevin McCullar Jr. added 16 points, Joseph Yesufu scored 14 off the bench and KJ Adams finished with 10, helping the Jayhawks (19-5, 7-4) overcome an off night from Jalen Wilson. The league&rsquo;s leading scorer at 21.5 points per game battled foul trouble and was held to just two, ending his streak of 25 straight double-figure games.
&ldquo;We knew we had to come in here and get a win,&rdquo; said Dick, who had the Jayhawks&rsquo; only two 3-pointers. &ldquo;The big thing, just in preparation for the week, was coming out with energy. When we do that, we&rsquo;re a scary team.&rdquo;
The Jayhawks needed everyone&rsquo;s help holding off the Longhorns&rsquo; Marcus Carr.
The Minnesota transfer, who had a game-high 29 points, kept answering Kansas baskets down the stretch. His 3-pointer got the Longhorns within 77-68 with 2:25 left, three free throws made it 78-71 with 1:31 to go, and his three-point play got the Longhorns (19-5, 8-3) within 86-80 with 23.5 seconds remaining.
Texas quickly fouled Dick at the other end, and his free throw with 18 seconds left helped to put the game away.
&ldquo;It was as close to a must-win as you could have this early in the season to win the league,&rdquo; Kansas coach Bill Self said. &ldquo;You go down three games with seven left, you&rsquo;d have to win out and get a lot of help from others. Now, we still have as hard a schedule as everybody, but we can kind of control our own destiny where if we play well, we have a shot.&rdquo;
Timmy Allen finished with 18 points for the Longhorns. Sir&rsquo;Jabari Rice had 12 before fouling out.
&ldquo;It was their night tonight in terms of what they got done,&rdquo; Texas interim coach Rodney Terry said.
The Longhorns have made a habit of overcoming double-digit deficits: 18 down to beat TCU, 12 down to beat Texas Tech and 14 down to beat No. 12 Kansas State last Saturday in a game played just down the road.
So it wasn&rsquo;t that surprising when Texas dug another 14-point hole Monday night.
Just like the Longhorns did in Manhattan, though, they began to rally. Texas shook off 10 first-half turnovers to get within 42-35 by the break, then kept coming in the second half. Hunter hit a 3-pointer, Carr added a couple of buckets and it was 43-all when Self called a timeout to slow Texas&rsquo; momentum.
Unlike the Horned Frogs, Red Raiders and Wildcats, the Jayhawks rose to the challenge.
McCullar&rsquo;s three-point play while they were clinging to a 49-48 lead gave them a boost, and Dick added a couple of free throws. But it was back-to-back buckets by Harris, who is known more as a distributor than as a scorer, that pushed the lead to 58-50 with about 12 minutes to go.
Texas closed within 66-60 but, after the Jayhawks pulled down two offensive boards, Dick hit another 3-pointer. And when Yesufu bookended a couple of free throws by Harris, the lead had stretched to 75-62 with 3 minutes to go.
The Jayhawks were able to fend off Carr and the Longhorns from there.
&ldquo;Give those guys credit. They came in and played at a very high level,&rdquo; Terry said, &ldquo;and we knew that would be the case.&rdquo;
BANGED-UP BIRDS
The Jayhawks were missing several backups. Zack Clemence has a hurt knee, Bobby Pettiford Jr. is dealing with a hamstring injury and Zuby Ejiofor a foot injury. Kyle Cuffe Jr. (knee) and Cam Martin (shoulder) also were out.
&ldquo;I thought the bench was great. As good as they&rsquo;ve been all year,&rdquo; Self said. &ldquo;We had nine guys we could put in the game.&rdquo;
BIG PICTURE
Texas has struggled to get off to good starts this season, and it seemed the energy the Longhorns expended climbing back into Monday night&rsquo;s game was missing by the end. Carr tried to carry them but he needed more help.
Kansas got the production it needed from the bench. Yesufu provided the scoring pop but big man Ernest Udeh Jr. and guard MJ Rice, both seldom-used freshmen, also provided important minutes for the Jayhawks.
UP NEXT
Texas heads home after its Sunflower State swing to play West Virginia on Saturday.
Kansas has a two-game trip next with Oklahoma on Saturday and Oklahoma State on Tuesday.

Gradey Dick scored 21, Dajuan Harris Jr. added 17 and the Jayhawks held on after blowing a 14-point first-half lead.

No. 9 Kansas blows lead, then holds off No. 5 Texas, 88-80

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) &mdash; Jalen Wilson remembers every slight. Every criticism. Every chip that&rsquo;s landed on his shoulder.
You can bet the Kansas forward remembers watching Kansas State fans storm the court after beating the Jayhawks.
So with revenge on their mind, Wilson and his pals jumped on the seventh-ranked Wildcats in the rematch Tuesday night. He finished with 20 points, Kevin McCullar Jr. had 16 points and 13 rebounds, and the No. 8 Jayhawks rolled to a 90-78 victory that also tightened the Big 12 standings at the midway point of conference play.
&ldquo;It was like a big rub in our face, them storming the court,&rdquo; Wilson admitted. &ldquo;I always remember stuff like that.&rdquo;
Dajuan Harris Jr. added 18 points for the Jayhawks (18-4, 6-3), who built a 12-point halftime lead before coasting to their 17th straight home win over K-State. They also won their second straight after a three-game skid, and made sure to avoid taking back-to-back losses inside Allen Fieldhouse for the first time since the 1988-89 season.
&ldquo;Hey, their guys are hard to guard. They&rsquo;ve got a good team,&rdquo; Kansas coach Bill Self said. &ldquo;I actually thought we did a good job, for the most part, and our bench was terrific. That was the best our bench has played so far.&rdquo;
Markquis Nowell scored 23 points and Keyontae Johnson had 22 points and 12 boards to lead the Wildcats (18-4, 6-3), who were trying for their first regular-season sweep of their biggest rival in four decades.
Nae&rsquo;Qwan Tomlin added 11 points for Kansas State. David N&rsquo;Guessan had 10.
&ldquo;They play at a fast pace. You know they play better at home,&rdquo; Nowell said. &ldquo;They started early with turnovers. They got out in transition. They got the crowd involved. They had a huge first half and I feel like we dug ourselves a hole.&rdquo;
In their first meeting on Jan. 17, the Wildcats raced to a big early lead and controlled the game until late in the second half, when the Jayhawks forced overtime &mdash; only for Kansas State to win on Johnson&rsquo;s alley-oop dunk.
It was the Jayhawks who controlled the rematch.
They used a 16-7 run early in the game, built by speeding up the Wildcats and controlling the tempo. At one point, Kansas State coach Jerome Tang picked up a technical foul, and the Jayhawks stretched their lead to 32-19 in a blink.
&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t want to get a technical. I didn&rsquo;t mind getting a technical, though,&rdquo; Tang said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been in here too many times where I feel like the crowd impacts the referees. And they&rsquo;re human beings, and this is no knock on them. I just wanted them to know I did not feel like the calls were being even on both ends.&rdquo;
The Wildcats answered with a run of their own, closing within 37-32. But that&rsquo;s when Wilson hit back-to-back 3-pointers and Zach Clemence, forced onto the court due to foul trouble among starters, added one of his own.
Kansas eventually led 49-37 at the break. And while the Wildcats briefly got within six in the second half, the outcome never seemed in jeopardy. The Jayhawks stretched their lead to 16 before cruising to the finish.
&ldquo;I thought we had a bunch of self-inflicted wounds,&rdquo; Tang said. &ldquo;Part of it was the environment, part of it was the scheme and how we tried to attack them. We&rsquo;ll go back and look at it.&rdquo;
OFFICIATING OOPS
Johnson had to sit with two fouls just 2 1/2 minutes into the game. Only problem? The crew of John Higgins, Kip Kissinger and Marques Pettigrew gave one to the wrong player. By the time they corrected their mistake, the Wildcats&rsquo; leading scorer had unnecessarily ridden the bench for several minutes.
SELLOUT ... AND THEN SOME
For the first time in more than 15 years, more Kansas students redeemed tickets than there was space available inside Allen Fieldhouse. The overflow had to watch the game on screens in the adjacent Horejsi Family Athletics Center, where the Jayhawks play volleyball games. Those students also got refunds and concessions vouchers.
BIG PICTURE
Kansas State&rsquo;s three losses in league play have been to ranked teams on the road: TCU, Iowa State and Kansas. And with a more forgiving second half to the Big 12 schedule, the Wildcats remain firmly in the conference title hunt.
Kansas got its mojo back with its win at Kentucky last weekend. This victory over another bunch of Wildcats was crucial because the road doesn&rsquo;t get any easier for the Jayhawks, who are in the midst of three straight games against ranked teams.
UP NEXT
Kansas State returns home for another top-10 showdown Saturday against No. 10 Texas.
Kansas hits the road for the third time in four games against No. 13 Iowa State on Saturday.

“It was like a big rub in our face, them storming the court,” Jayhawks forward Jalen Wilson admitted. “I always remember stuff like that.”

No. 8 Kansas avenges earlier loss to No. 7 K-State, 90-78

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) &mdash; Grant Sherfield scored a season-high 30 points, and Oklahoma beat No. 2 Alabama 93-69 on Saturday in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge to end the Crimson Tide&rsquo;s nine-win streak.
Jalen Hill added a career-high 26 points, helping second-year Oklahoma coach Porter Moser to his biggest win with the program. Tanner Groves had 14 points and 12 rebounds.
The Sooners (12-9) had lost three straight, but against the Crimson Tide shot 58% from the field.
Rylan Griffen led Alabama (18-3) with 15 points and seven rebounds. Freshman Brandon Miller, who came in averaging 19.5 points per game, finished with 11.
NO. 3 HOUSTON 75, CINCINNATI 69
HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; Jarace Walker had a career-high 25 points and seven rebounds, and Houston rallied from an 11-point second-half deficit to defeat Cincinnati.
Walker, who scored 13 points in the second half, was 10 of 14 from the field. J&rsquo;Wan Roberts added 14 points and six rebounds, and Jamal Shead scored 13 points for Houston (20-2, 8-1 American Athletic Conference).
Houston has won at least 20 games in eight straight seasons under coach Kelvin Sampson.
Landers Nolley II had 24 points, including 6 3-pointers. Vicktor Lakhin added 15 points, and David DeJulius had 14 points and nine assists for Cincinnati (14-8, 5-4).&nbsp;
NO. 4 TENNESSEE 82, NO. 10 TEXAS 71
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) &mdash; Olivier Nkamhoua scored 27 points and Zakai Zeigler had 22 points and 10 assists to lead Tennessee over Texas in an SEC/Big 12 Challenge.
Josiah-Jordan James added 14 and Santiago Vescovi had 12 for Tennessee (18-3), which led by as many as 22 midway through the second half.
Sir&rsquo;Jabari Rice scored 21 to lead Texas (17-4). Marcus Carr and Brock Cunningham finished with 11 each.
NO. 5 KANSAS STATE 64, FLORIDA 50
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) &mdash; Keyontae Johnson had 13 points and 11 rebounds against his former team, Markquis Nowell flirted with the first triple-double in Kanas State history, and the Wildcats beat Florida in an SEC/Big 12 Challenge.
Nowell finished with 13 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, and Nae&rsquo;Qwan Tomlin also had 11 points. The Wildcats improved to 18-3 to match the 1972-73 team for the best start through 21 games in school history.
Johnson struggled from the field, going just 5 of 16 and even getting stuffed by the front of the rim during a windmill dunk on a second-half fast break. But it was nevertheless a special night for the senior forward, who collapsed on the Gators&rsquo; sideline due to a heart condition during a game against Florida State just over two years ago.
Colin Castleton scored 13 points for the Gators (12-9). Myreon Jones and Will Richard had 11 apiece.
NO. 6 ARIZONA 95, WASHINGTON 72
SEATTLE (AP) &mdash; Azuolas Tubelis had 25 points and 10 rebounds, Oumar Ballo added 21 points and 12 rebounds, and Arizona used a big second-half run to pull away to win its fourth straight.
Tubelis topped 20 points for the first time in five games and his rebound putback while being fouled with 4:29 remaining gave the Wildcats a 78-63 lead and sent Washington fans headed for the exits.
Kerr Kriisa added 18 points, hitting six 3-pointers, and Courtney Ramey scored 14 for the Wildcats (19-3, 8-3 Pac-12).
Keion Brooks Jr. led Washington with 25 points and Keyon Menifield added 21. But the Huskies (13-10, 5-7) suffered from too many scoring droughts and didn&rsquo;t have an answer for Arizona&rsquo;s 19-1 run in the early stages of the second half.
NO. 7 VIRGINIA 76, BOSTON COLLEGE 57
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) &mdash; Armaan Franklin and Jayden Gardner scored 18 points each and Virginia used a big first-half run to take control over Boston College for its sixth straight victory.
The Cavaliers (16-3, 8-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) trailed 18-15 before starting an 18-4 run over the next 11 minutes. Virginia put the game away with a 16-4 second-half spurt.
Quinten Post scored 24 to lead the Eagles (10-12, 4-7) and Makai Ashton-Langford added 12 points.
Virginia&rsquo;s Isaac McKneely finished with 12 points and Reece Beekman had 11 and eight assists.
NO. 9 KANSAS 77, KENTUCKY 68
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) &mdash; Jalen Wilson scored 22 points, including one in a series of huge 3-pointers down the stretch, and Kansas avoided its first four-game losing streak under coach Bill Self.
Wilson made 9 of 18 from the field and grabbed eight rebounds for Kansas (17-4), which finished even with Kentucky at 49% shooting. K.J. Adams Jr. added 17 points, Dick had 13 and McCullar 11 with 12 rebounds as the Jayhawks edged Kentucky 34-29 on the glass.
Oscar Tshiebwe had 18 points and nine rebounds, and Jacob Toppin and Cason Wallace each added 14 for Kentucky (14-7), which had won its previous four.
MISSISSIPPI STATE 81, NO. 11 TCU 74, OT
STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) &mdash; Tolu Smith had 27 points, 13 rebounds and five assists to lead Mississippi State to an overtime victory.
Dashawn Davis added 16 points to help Mississippi State (13-8) snap a five-game losing streak. Shakeel Moore had 11, including six in overtime, while Cameron Matthews had 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulldogs. Tyler Stevenson also added 10 points off the Bulldogs&rsquo; bench.
Damion Baugh led TCU (16-5) with 19 points and Emanuel Miller had 13. Shahada Wells and Jakobe Coles each had 12 for the Horned Frogs and Chuck O&rsquo;Bannon had 10.
Davis&rsquo; 3 pointer with 55 seconds left in the second half gave the Bulldogs a 66-64 advantage. Emanuel Miller scored with 32 seconds remaining and then both teams missed chances to win in regulation.
MISSOURI 78, NO. 12 IOWA STATE 61
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) &mdash; Kobe Brown scored 20 points, and D&rsquo;Moi Hodge scored 17 points to help Missouri take down Iowa State in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.
Brown scored 14 of his points in the first half and led Missouri (16-5) with 12 rebounds. Nick Honor added 12 points and DeAndre Gholston scored 10.
Jaren Holmes led Iowa State (15-5) with 19 points, and Gabe Kalscheur added 14.
The Tigers&rsquo; 78 points were a season-high for an Iowa State opponent in regulation; the Cyclones are 0-3 this season when allowing at least 70 points in regulation.
CREIGHTON 84, NO. 13 XAVIER 67
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) &mdash; Arthur Kamula scored 20 points, Creighton&rsquo;s four other starters finished in double-figures and the Bluejays earned their fourth straight Big East win.
Creighton (13-8, 7-3) steadily built a double-digit lead throughout the game and made 34 of its 60 field goal attempts (56.7%) before a sold-out crowd.
Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 17 points, Baylor Scheierman had 14, Trey Alexander finished with 13 and Ryan Nembhard added 11 for the Bluejays, who avenged a 90-87 loss at Xavier on Jan. 11.
Zach Freemantle led Xavier (17-5, 9-2) with 18 points, followed by Colby Jones and Adam Kunkel with 13.
NO. 14 GONZAGA 82, PORTLAND 67
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) &mdash; Julian Strawther had a career-high 40 points, including eight 3-pointers, and Gonzaga pulled away down the stretch for its 16th consecutive victory over Portland.
Anton Watson added 17 points for Gonzaga (18-4, 7-1 West Coast Conference).
Strawther is the first player to reach 40 points for the Zags since Kyle Wiltjer had 45 against Pacific in 2016.
Portland (11-13, 3-5) was led by Moses Wood with 19 points. Juan Sebastian Gorosito, a freshman, finished with a career-high 17 points.
WEST VIRGINIA 80, NO. 15 AUBURN 77
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) &mdash; Erik Stevenson scored a career-high 31 points and West Virginia withstood a furious late rally from Auburn to win an SEC/Big 12 Challenge matchup.
The Mountaineers (13-8) have won two straight for the first time in a month. Jimmy Bell Jr. added 15 points for the Mountaineers.
Charles Barkley cheered on his alma mater from a courtside seat, but Auburn (16-5) couldn&rsquo;t overcome another slow start. The Tigers have lost two straight for the first time in two years.
Jaylin Williams led Auburn with 18 points. Johni Broome added 15 and Allen Flanigan scored 13.
NO. 16 MARQUETTE 89, DEPAUL 69
CHICAGO (AP) &mdash; David Joplin went 8 for 11 from 3-point range for a career-high 28 points, Tyler Kolek had 24 points, 10 assists and 9 rebounds, and Marquette defeated DePaul.
Marquette has won eight of its last nine games, and moved into a tie with No. 13 Xavier atop the Big East.
Marquette (17-5, 9-2) pulled away in the second half. Oso Ighodaro had 10 points, making all five of his shots, and Olivier-Maxence Prosper scored 13 and had 8 rebounds.
Umoja Gibson scored 25 points for DePaul (9-13, 3-8) on 8-of-12 shooting.
NO. 17 BAYLOR 67, ARKANSAS 64
WACO, Texas (AP) &mdash; Keyonte George scored 24 points, including seven in a row down the stretch, and Baylor beat Arkansas in an SEC/Big 12 Challenge.
Baylor (16-5) fell behind by as many as eight points in the second half after an early 11-point lead. But the Bears closed it out after Flo Thamba made two free throws for a 55-53 lead with 3:37 left.
LJ Cryer added 20 points and Jalen Bridges had 10 for the Bears, who won their sixth game in a row despite shooting a 34% (20 of 59) from the field. They offset the season-worst shooting from the field by making 21 of 24 free throws, including two by Cryer with 10 seconds left and two by George with 4.3 seconds remaining.
Ricky Council IV scored 25 points for Arkansas (14-7). Davonte Davis had 16 points, but missed the front end of a 1-plus-1 with 2.3 seconds left, though Joseph Pinion got the ball in the right corner only to miss wildly on a 3-pointer as time ran out.
HOFSTRA 85, NO. 18 COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON 81
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) &mdash; Aaron Estrada scored 25 points and Darlinstone Dubar added 18 as Hofstra ended College of Charleston&rsquo;s 20-game winning streak.
The Pride (15-8, 8-2 Colonial Athletic Association) were down 28-20 early before rallying past the Cougars (21-2, 9-1), who had not lost since falling to then-No. 1 North Carolina on Nov. 11.
Tyler Thomas had 17 points and eight rebounds for Hofstra.
Ante Brzovic finished with 18 points to lead Charleston.
PITTSBURGH 71, NO. 20 MIAMI 68
PITTSBURGH (AP) &mdash; Blake Hinson tipped in a Jamarius Burton miss with 31 seconds remaining and Pittsburgh rallied past Miami.
The Panthers (15-7, 8-3 ACC) held the Hurricanes (16-5, 7-4) scoreless over the final 2:26 while closing on an 11-0 run to beat a ranked team for the third time this season to bolster its increasingly impressive NCAA tournament resume.
Hinson finished with 21 points for Pitt. Burton had 19 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists as the Panthers stunned Miami in front of a rare sell-out crowd at the Petersen Events Center.
Jordan Miller led the Hurricanes with 18 points. Isaiah Wong added 14 but Miami committed three of its 12 turnovers in the final 35 seconds as the Panthers stormed back.
NO. 21 FAU 70, W. KENTUCKY 63
BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) &mdash; Brandon Weatherspoon scored 14 points and Florida Atlantic remained undefeated at home.
The victory extended FAU&rsquo;s winning streak to a program-record 20 games, which is now the nation&rsquo;s longest. The Owls&rsquo; 21 victories on the season ties their Division I record set in 2010-11. Western Kentucky (11-11, 3-8 Conference USA) has lost five straight.
Alijah Martin scored eight while grabbing seven rebounds for the Owls (21-1, 11-0).
Jordan Rawls led all scorers with 17 for W. Kentucky. Dayvion McKnight and Emmanuel Akot each had 16.
NO. 22 SAINT MARY&rsquo;S (CAL) 57, BYU 56
PROVO, Utah (AP) &mdash; Logan Johnson had 14 points and freshman Aidan Mahaney scored all 10 of his points, including a fade-away jumper just before the buzzer, in the second half and Saint Mary&rsquo;s (Cal) won its 10th in a row.
Mitchell Saxen had 11 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and two blocks for Saint Mary&rsquo;s (19-4, 8-0 West Coast Conference). Alex Ducas scored 12 points and Augustas Marciulionis added 10.
Dallin Hall was fouled on a driving lay-up attempt with 10.2 seconds left and made 1-of-2 free throws to give BYU a 56-55 lead but Mahaney took the inbounds pass, probed the defense before he drove the lane, stopped near the right block and pivoted away from the basket before hitting the winning jumper over the out-stretched arm of defender Fousseyni Traore.
Hall scored a career-high 23 points on 9 of 14 shooting but made just 3 of 6 from the free-throw line for BYU (14-10, 4-5). Fousseyni Traore added 11 points and eight rebounds.
NO. 24 CLEMSON 82, FLORIDA STATE 81
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) &mdash; Chase Hunter drove the lane and drew a foul, sinking the free throw, to help Clemson escape with a win over Florida State.
Hunter Tyson scored 27 points on 10 of 17 shooting for Clemson (18-4, 10-1 Atlantic Coast Conference), which halted an eight-game road losing streak to Florida State. Hunter finished with 25.
Matthew Cleveland scored 15 of his 18 points in the second half for Florida State (7-15, 5-6), which made a season-high 13 3-pointers. Caleb Mills and Darin Green Jr. each hit four 3-pointers for the Seminoles. Freshman forward Baba Miller had his best game, scoring 11 points and pulling down four rebounds in 20 minutes.

A recap of Saturday's action in men's college hoops includes five upsets in the AP top 15.

Oklahoma's rout of No. 2 Alabama one of many top-15 upsets on Saturday

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) &mdash; KJ Adams scored a career-high 22 points and No. 2 Kansas closed the game on an 18-4 run to beat Oklahoma 79-75 on Tuesday night.
Kansas (14-1, 3-0 Big 12) got 17 points from Jalen Wilson, 11 from Dajuan Harris and 10 from Zach Clemence. The Jayhawks have won 22 straight games against Oklahoma in Allen Fieldhouse, including 16 straight under coach Bill Self.
Oklahoma (10-5, 1-2 Big 12) was led by Grant Sherfield&rsquo;s season-high 25 points. Sam Godwin added 12 points, Milos Uzan had 11 and Tanner Groves had 10.
Kansas went more than 12 minutes without a field goal in the second half, but Adams ended that streak with a thunderous dunk at the 5:06 mark.
NO. 5 TENNESSEE 77, VANDERBILT 68
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) &mdash; Santiago Vescovi and Julian Phillips each scored 15 points as Tennessee recovered from a halftime deficit to pull out a win over Vanderbilt.
Vescovi scored 12 of his points in the second half to lead the recovery for the Volunteers (14-2, 4-0 Southeastern Conference), who won their 25th straight game at Thompson-Boling Arena. Uros Plavsic contributed 11 points.
Vandy&rsquo;s 7-foot Liam Robbins won the battle of the big men with 18 points off the bench. Noah Shelby had 12 points and Jordan Wright added 13 for Vanderbilt (8-8, 1-2).
NO. 11 KANSAS STATE 65, OKLAHOMA STATE 57
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) &mdash; Markquis Nowell scored 20 points and found Keyontae Johnson for an alley-oop dunk with 38 seconds left as Kansas State held off Oklahoma State.
Johnson added 12 points and Desi Sills had 11 for the Wildcats (15-1, 4-0 Big 12), who won their ninth straight and matched their victory total from last season. Predicted to finish last in the Big 12, Kansas State went from unranked last week to just outside the top 10 in the AP poll.
Kalib Boone scored 23 points and Caleb Asberry had 15 for the Cowboys (9-7, 1-3), who have lost three of four, all by 10 points or fewer.
NO. 13 VIRGINIA 65, NORTH CAROLINA 58
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) &mdash; Ben Vander Plas had 17 points and eight rebounds and Virginia used a 17-2 second-half run to beat North Carolina, which lost leading scorer and rebounder Armando Bacot to a left ankle injury.
Reece Beekman scored 13 points and Armaan Franklin had 12 points and nine rebounds as the Cavaliers (12-3, 4-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) won their eighth straight meeting with the Tar Heels at John Paul Jones Arena.
Bacot rolled his ankle 1:18 into the game and did not return. RJ Davis led the Tar Heels (11-6, 3-3) with 16 points and Caleb Love and Jalen Washington added 13 each. Washington, a freshman, played 27 minutes in Bacot&rsquo;s absence.
NO. 14 IOWA STATE 84, TEXAS TECH 50
AMES, Iowa (AP) &mdash; Gabe Kalscheur scored a season-high 25 points to help Iowa State roll past Texas Tech.
Kalscheur made five of six shots from 3-point range and was 10 of 14 overall as the Cyclones (13-2, 4-0 Big 12) coasted to their sixth straight win.
Jaren Holmes added 15 points. Caleb Grill finished with 14 after hitting four of his first six 3-pointers. Iowa State finished 12 of 22 from behind the arc.
De&rsquo;Vion Harmon led Tech (10-6, 0-4) with 14 points.
MICHIGAN STATE 69, NO. 18 WISCONSIN 65
MADISON, Wis. (AP) &mdash; A.J. Hoggard made a tiebreaking layup with 41 seconds left and Michigan State rallied past Wisconsin for its seventh consecutive victory in a game that had 14 lead changes.
Wisconsin (11-4, 3-2 Big Ten) was playing its second straight game without leading scorer and three-year starter Tyler Wahl, who averages 13.2 points per game.
Joey Hauser had 20 points for Michigan State (12-4, 4-1), which won its first road game since Dec. 7. Tyson Walker added 13 points, Jaden Akins 12 and Hoggard 10.
Steven Crowl scored 19 points, Chucky Hepburn 14 and Connor Essegian 13 for Wisconsin.
NO. 21 AUBURN 82, OLE MISS 73
OXFORD, Miss. (AP) &mdash; Wendell Green Jr. scored 23 points, including 18 in the second half, and Auburn dominated after halftime to beat Mississippi.
Auburn (13-3, 3-1 Southeastern Conference) trailed 35-34 at the break but put together runs of 6-0, 10-2 and 9-4 in the opening 10 minutes of the second half.
Johni Broome had 19 points and 11 rebounds, Allen Flanigan added 15 points and Jaylin Williams scored 11 for the Tigers, who shot 17 of 28 (60.7%) in the second half.
Matthew Murrell led Ole Miss (8-8, 0-4) with 24 points, adding six rebounds and four assists. Tye Fagan scored 13 points and Jaemyn Brakefield added 12 for the Rebels, who lost their fifth straight.
NO. 23 SAN DIEGO STATE 74, NEVADA 65
SAN DIEGO (AP) &mdash; Matt Bradley scored 17 points and Lamont Butler added 15 and San Diego State took sole possession of first place in the Mountain West Conference.
The Aztecs (13-3, 4-0 MWC) dominated on both ends of Steve Fisher Court in a showdown between the last two undefeated teams in the conference to extend their winning streak to six games. Keshad Johnson added 11 points for SDSU, which has beaten Nevada nine straight times.
Nick Davidson scored 17, Kenan Blackshear 12 and Jarod Lucas 11 for Nevada (14-4, 4-1), whose six-game winning streak was snapped.

A recap of Tuesday's men's top-25 action includes a career night from Jayhawks forward KJ Adams.

No. 2 Kansas extends home win streak against Oklahoma to 22

Basketball News highlights the reporting, analysis and podcasts that defined a year of basketball in 2022.

Best of Basketball News: Spotlighting our top content from 2022

PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas (AP) &mdash; Bobby Pettiford Jr. made a twisting reverse layup off a loose rebound with 0.2 seconds left in overtime to give No. 3 Kansas a 69-68 win over Wisconsin in a Battle 4 Atlantis semifinal on Thursday.
Pettiford&rsquo;s layup marked his only points of the game, capping a thriller that saw Wisconsin rally from 15 down early in the second half.
Jalen Wilson scored 29 points and had 14 rebounds for the reigning national champion Jayhawks (6-0), and Kevin McCullar Jr. had 18 points and nine rebounds &mdash; and a 3 to force overtime.
Tyler Wahl led the Badgers (4-1) with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Most of his points came after half in what was at times a one-man comeback, including a spinning drive against a falling Wilson for a layup and a 68-67 lead with 21 seconds left.
Kansas will take on No. 22 Tennessee in the tournament title game on Friday.
NO. 1 NORTH CAROLINA 89, PORTLAND 81
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) &mdash; Pete Nance scored 28 points, Caleb Love added 23 and North Carolina survived an unexpected test from Portland in the opening round of the Phil Knight Invitational.
The Tar Heels (5-0) needed a late 14-3 run to finally pull away from one of the tournament&rsquo;s host schools. Love carried them in the first half with 16 points and reached the 1,000-point mark in his career, becoming the 80th North Carolina player to reach that mark.&nbsp;
Nance picked up the slack after halftime with 20 points and matched his career high in scoring set last season when he was playing for Northwestern.
Moses Wood led Portland (4-3) with 21 points.
The Tar Heels will face Iowa State in a semifinal game Friday. Portland will play Villanova in a consolation game.
NO. 8 DUKE 54, OREGON STATE 51
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) &mdash; Kyle Filipowski had 19 points and 14 rebounds as Duke held off a challenge from Oregon State in the opening game of the Phil Knight Legacy tournament.
Ryan Young added 11 points and 15 rebounds off the bench and was the only other Blue Devils (5-1) player to score in double figures.
Jordan Pope led the Beavers (3-2) with 14 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals. Dexter Akanno hit two 3-pointers and scored 11 points.
The Blue Devils will face Xavier in a PKL semifinal on Friday, while the Beavers will take on Florida.
NO. 6 GONZAGA 102, PORTLAND STATE 78
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) &mdash; Malachi Smith led six players in double figures with a season-high 23 points and No. 6 Gonzaga used a big first half to beat Portland State in the opening round of the Phil Knight Legacy tournament.
The Bulldogs (4-1) led by 27 in the first half, led 55-31 at halftime and withstood a sloppy second half.
Drew Timme scored 18 points and the only shot he missed was a dunk attempt midway through the second half. Rasir Bolton had 14 points and a career-high eight assists, while Julian Strawther, Anton Watson and Hunter Sallis all finished with 10. Gonzaga shot 60% for the game.
Jorell Saterfield led Portland State (2-3) with 21 points.
Gonzaga will face No. 24 Purdue in the semifinals Friday.
NO. 18 ALABAMA 81, NO. 12 MICHIGAN STATE 70
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) &mdash; Freshman Brandon Miller scored 17 of his 24 points in the first half and Alabama pulled away to beat Michigan State in the opening round of the Phil Knight Invitational.
After a rather light schedule for the first couple of weeks, Alabama (5-0) passed its first test of the season against the short-handed Spartans (3-2).
Tyson Walker led Michigan State with 21 points and A.J. Hoggard added 18.
Alabama will face No. 20 UConn in the semifinals Friday. Michigan State will play face Oregon in&nbsp;
NO. 20 UCONN 83, OREGON 59
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) &mdash; Tristen Newton scored 23 points, leading UConn to a win over Oregon at the Phil Knight Legacy tournament.
Jordan Hawkins scored 18 points, Adama Sanogo added 12 and Joey Calcaterra came off the bench to score 11 for the unbeaten Huskies (6-0).
Kel&rsquo;el Ware led the Ducks (2-3) with 18 points and nine rebounds off the bench. N&rsquo;faly Dante contributed 15 points.
NO. 22 TENNESSEE 73, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 66, OT
PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas (AP) &mdash; Julian Phillips scored a season-high 25 points to help Tennessee hold off Southern California in overtime at the Battle 4 Atlantis.
The first-year forward made 7 of 13 shots and 10 of 12 free throws to go with eight rebounds for the Volunteers (4-1), with four of those free throws coming in overtime.
Santiago Vescovi overcame a rough shooting game to hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:45 left in the extra period, while Zakai Zeigler went 4 for 4 at the line in the final 23.7 seconds left of overtime to seal the win.
Boogie Ellis scored 21 points in his second big output in as many days to lead the Trojans (4-2).
The Vols advanced to Friday&rsquo;s championship game to face No. 3 Kansas, which edged Wisconsin in overtime.
NO. 24 PURDUE 80, WEST VIRGINIA 68
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) &mdash; Zach Edey had 24 points and 12 rebounds to lead Purdue past West Virginia in the opening round of the Phil Knight Legacy tournament.
Mason Gillis added 14 points for the Boilermakers (4-0), and Brandon Newman came off the bench to score eight points.
Erik Stevenson scored 17 points as the Mountaineers (3-1) lost for the first time this season. Joe Toussaint added 16 points off the bench.
The Boilermakers will face the No. 6 Gonzaga on Friday in the semifinals.

A recap of the standout games on Thanksgiving Thursday was highlighted by a thriller in the Bahamas.

Pettiford’s last-second layup saves No. 3 Kansas in Bahamas

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) &mdash; Jalen Wilson scored a career-high 25 points and Gradey Dick made three crucial baskets in the final 2 1/2 minutes to lead No. 4 Kansas past No. 7 Duke 69-64 on Tuesday night.
The defending national champion Jayhawks (3-0) extended the nation&rsquo;s longest active winning streak to 14 games. Wilson also grabbed 11 rebounds as coach Bill Self missed his third straight game because of a school-imposed suspension stemming from a 2017 infractions scandal.
Duke (2-1) was led by Kyle Filipowski, who scored a season-high 17 points and had 14 rebounds to become the first player in school history to register double-doubles in each of his first three games. Marvin Bagley III was the only other player to do it in his first two games. Jeremy Roach had 16 points as new coach Jon Scheyer lost his first game.
Kansas was pushed to the brink in a back-and-forth game. It trailed 59-54 after Filipowski&rsquo;s putback with 4:39 to play before they finally pulled together.
They traded leads with Duke on three straight possessions, taking the lead for good on Dick&rsquo;s alley-oop dunk with 1:40 to go. Kansas sealed the win on a layup with 22.2 seconds left to make it a five-point game.
BIG PICTURE
Duke: The young Blue Devils won&rsquo;t take a backseat to anybody. Despite a slow start and a bad finish, they traded jabs all night with the more experienced Jayhawks. At times, they looked like the more physical team and they&rsquo;re likely to only get better.
Kansas: They&rsquo;ve survived without Self &mdash; just barely Tuesday. The Jayhawks played fast and hard but also struggled to execute during stretches. Still, they persevered and just continue to win.
POLL IMPLICATIONS
Duke: The Blue Devils may slide a little but it won&rsquo;t be much. This was a winnable game against one of the nation&rsquo;s top teams on a neutral court. They should lose too much ground this week.
Kansas: With No. 4 Kentucky losing earlier Tuesday and playing at No. 2 Gonzaga this weekend, the Jayhawks could be moving up this week.
UP NEXT
Duke: Heads home to face Delaware on Friday.
Kansas: Hosts Southern Utah on Friday.

Jalen Wilson scored a career-high 25 points and Gradey Dick made three crucial baskets in the final minutes.

No. 5 Kansas rallies late to beat No. 7 Blue Devils 69-64

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) &mdash; Jeremy Roach scored 16 first-half points to help seventh-ranked Duke open Jon Scheyer&rsquo;s coaching tenure with a 71-44 win over Jacksonville on Monday night.
Freshman Mark Mitchell had a team-high 18 points for the Blue Devils, who used a 25-4 run spanning halftime to blow the game open.
It was a quality start to a season of massive change for the Blue Devils, starting with Scheyer taking over for retired Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski. Duke has 11 new players, including the nation&rsquo;s No. 1-ranked recruiting class and two power-conference transfers. The Blue Devils didn&rsquo;t have top freshmen Dereck Lively II and Dariq Whitehead for this one as they recover from preseason injuries.
Mike Marsh scored 15 points to lead the Dolphins, who shot 34% and missed 18 of 19 3-pointers before making two meaningless 3s late.
NO. 1 NORTH CAROLINA 69, UNC WILMINGTON 56
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) &mdash; Caleb Love and RJ Davis scored 17 points apiece and North Carolina began a season of grand expectations by pulling away from UNC Wilmington.
Armando Bacot added 16 points and nine rebounds for the Tar Heels, who were perhaps most impressive at the defensive end. UNCW shot 29.8% from the field.
The Tar Heels, who were the NCAA Tournament runner-up in April, began the new season with the top ranking for the first time in seven years. It&rsquo;s a record 10th time that North Carolina has been ranked No. 1 to start a season &mdash; one more than rival Duke.
Trazarien White scored 19 points for UNCW, which faced a top-ranked team for the first time in program history.
NO. 2 GONZAGA 104, NORTH FLORIDA 63
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) &mdash; Drew Timme scored 22 points, Julian Strawther added 16 and No. 2 Gonzaga used a big first-half run to beat North Florida in both teams&rsquo; opener.
Anton Watson had 10 points, four rebounds, four assists and five steals for Gonzaga, which won its 68th consecutive home game, the nation&rsquo;s longest such streak.
Carter Hendricksen scored 16 points, Jadyn Parker 13 and Jose Placer 12 for North Florida, a veteran-laden team from the Atlantic Sun Conference that returned its top four scorers from last season.
NO. 3 HOUSTON 83, NORTHERN COLORADO 36
HOUSTON (AP) &mdash; Marcus Sasser scored 21 points, J&rsquo;Wan Roberts added 12 points and six rebounds, and Houston opened the season by beating Northern Colorado.
Sasser, a preseason All-American, scored 11 points in the first half. He finished 7 of 14 from the field and made 4 of 8 3-pointers. The senior guard missed the second half of last season and all of Houston&rsquo;s run to the Elite Eight with a toe injury.
Houston coach Kelvin Sampson won his 700th career game and 200th with the Cougars.
Matt Johnson II, Riley Abercrombie and Caleb Shaw each scored eight points for the Bears.
NO. 4 KENTUCKY 95, HOWARD 63
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) &mdash; Antonio Reeves scored 22 points, CJ Fredrick had 20 and Kentucky beat Howard with All-American Oscar Tshiebwe and two other players sidelined.
Tshiebwe had a procedure last month on his right knee. Point guard Sahvir Wheeler (right leg) and sophomore forward Daimion Collins (personal reasons) were also out, but the Wildcats still shot 55% against the overmatched Bison.
Jacob Toppin and freshman Cason Wallace each added 15 points for Kentucky.
Kobe Dickson scored 17 points and Elijah Hawkins had 14 for Howard, which shot 34%.
NO. 5 KANSAS 89, OMAHA 64
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) &mdash; Jalen Wilson had 19 points and 11 rebounds, Gradey Dick added 23 points in his debut, and Kansas began defense of its national championship without suspended coach Bill Self by routing Omaha.
Bobby Pettiford Jr. added 13 points, Dajuan Harris had 11 points and eight assists, and Texas Tech transfer Kevin McCullar Jr. scored 10 for the Jayhawks, who broke open a close game in the second half with two big runs.
Self served the first of a four-game punishment along with assistant Kurtis Townsend as part of the fallout from a 2017 federal investigation into college basketball corruption.
Jaeden Marshall scored 13 points and Luke Jungers had 12 for the Mavericks.
NO. 5 BAYLOR 117, MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE 53
WACO, Texas (AP) &mdash; Adam Flagler scored 21 points to lead six players in double figures as Baylor won the opener of its 20th season with coach Scott Drew.
Flagler, a preseason All-Big 12 pick who also was the Bears&rsquo; leading scorer last season, also had eight assists and one of his four 3-pointers started a 24-0 run midway through the first half.
LJ Cryer had 16 points and Dale Bonner, another returning guard, had 14.
Alvin Stredic scored 14 points and Terry Collins 10 for Mississippi Valley State in its first game for new coach George Ivory.
NO. 9 CREIGHTON 72, ST. THOMAS 60
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) &mdash; Baylor Scheierman made back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the second half to give Creighton the lead for good.
Arthur Kaluma scored 17 points, Trey Alexander had 12 and Scheierman added 11 as the Bluejays won their 25th opener in 26 years.
St. Thomas, a Summit League member beginning its second season in Division I, gave the Bluejays all they could handle until the last few minutes. Andrew Rohde had 15 points to lead the Tommies.
NO. 10 ARKANSAS 76, NORTH DAKOTA STATE 58
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) &mdash; Trevon Brazile had 21 points and 12 rebounds in his debut as Arkansas won its season opener.
Brazile, a sophomore transfer from Missouri, scored six straight points during an 11-0 run early in the second half that gave Arkansas a 16-point lead with 15 minutes left.
Wichita State transfer Ricky Council led the Razorbacks with 22 points on 9-for-14 shooting.
Grant Nelson and Boden Skunberg had 17 points apiece to lead North Dakota State.
NO. 11 TENNESSEE 75, TENNESSEE TECH 43
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) &mdash; Tyreke Key came off the bench to score 17 points and Tennessee beat Tennessee Tech in both teams&rsquo; opener.
Key, an Indiana State transfer, connected on 4 of 8 3-pointers to ignite a sluggish Volunteer offense. Zakai Zeigler scored all but two of his 12 points in the second half.
Brett Thompson led the Golden Eagles with 15 points.
NO. 12 TEXAS 72, UTEP 57
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) &mdash; Tyrese Hunter scored 18 points to lead Texas past UTEP in the debut of its new arena.
Hunter, a transfer from Iowa State, was 6-of-8 shooting and added five rebounds. Ze&rsquo;Ri Onyema led UTEP with 10 points.
Texas this season moved to the $375 million Moody Center on the edge of campus, leaving behind the old Frank Erwin Center after 45 years.
NO. 13 INDIANA 88, MOREHEAD STATE 53
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) &mdash; Preseason All-American Trayce Jackson-Davis and freshman Malik Reneau each scored 15 points, helping Indiana beat Morehead State in the season opener for both teams.
The Hoosiers have won all six matchups in the series and are 26-0 all-time against Ohio Valley Conference foes.
Mark Freeman led the Eagles with 14 points, and Drew Thelwell had 11 for the OVC favorites.
NO. 14 TCU 73, ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF 72
WACO, Texas (AP) &mdash; Mike Miles hit a 3-pointer with 51 seconds remaining to finally put TCU ahead to stay against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, which built an early 20-point lead in the season opener for both teams.
Miles, the preseason Big 12 player of the year, hit from deep beyond the top of the key for a 71-68 lead.
Emanuel Miller had 15 of his 19 points in the second half, and Miles finished with 15 points for the Horned Frogs. They returned all five starters and five other scholarship players after winning their first NCAA Tournament game since 1987.
Shaun Doss had 25 points with four of Arkansas-Pine Bluff&rsquo;s 13 3-pointers.
NO. 15 AUBURN 70, GEORGE MASON 52
AUBURN, Ala. (AP) &mdash; Wendell Green Jr. scored 16 points while K.D. Johnson and Johni Broome each had 12 to lead Auburn to a season-opening win over George Mason.
The Tigers weren&rsquo;t really challenged much in their first game since losing NBA first-round draft picks Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler.
Ronald Polite III led George Mason with 10 points, and Victor Bailey Jr. had nine.
NO. 16 VILLANOVA 81, LA SALLE 68
VILLANOVA, Pa. (AP) &mdash; Caleb Daniels scored 24 points to make coach Kyle Neptune a winner in his Villanova debut.
Neptune replaced Hall of Famer Jay Wright, who retired in the offseason. The Wildcats returned three starters (a fourth, Justin Moore, was injured) from the team that lost a national semifinal game to Kansas. Eric Dixon added 20 points for Villanova.
Daniels made his first five 3-pointers and the Wildcats used an early 10-0 run to put away their city rival and spoiled 74-year-old coach Fran Dunphy&rsquo;s return to the bench.
Josh Nickelberry scored 22 points to lead the Explorers.
NO. 17 ARIZONA 117, NICHOLLS STATE 75
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) &mdash; Azuolas Tubelis scored 23 points and Arizona went on a massive opening run to begin its second season under coach Tommy Lloyd with a rout.
Ballo scored 18 points, helping Arizona set a school record with 71.7% shooting from the floor against the reigning Southland Conference regular-season champions. The Wildcats opened the game with a 30-4 run.
Micah Thomas led Nicholls State with 20 points.
NO. 18 VIRGINIA 73, NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL 61
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) &mdash; Kihei Clark and Reece Beekman sparked a 15-2 second-half run, and Virginia beat North Carolina Central after blowing a 16-point first-half lead.
Armaan Franklin led Virginia with 21 points in the season opener for both teams, and Francisco Caffaro had 10.
Justin Wright scored 20 and Eric Boone had 18 for the Eagles, who used a 12-0 run just after halftime to go ahead. But Clark hit a 3 and Beekman followed with a steal and a breakaway.
NO. 19 SAN DIEGO STATE 80, CAL STATE FULLERTON 57
SAN DIEGO (AP) &mdash; Darrion Trammell hit three 3-pointers during a 29-10 run to open the second half and finished with 18 points as San Diego State beat Cal State Fullerton.
Fellow newcomer Jaedon LeDee and Lamont Butler scored 11 points apiece and Nathan Mensah had 10 for the Aztecs, who won their 10th straight season opener and their 17th in 18 seasons.
Vincent Lee scored 11 and Jalen Harris 10 for the Titans, the defending Big West Conference champions.
NO. 20 ALABAMA 75, LONGWOOD 54
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) &mdash; Freshman Brandon Miller had 14 points and 13 rebounds in his debut as Alabama beat Longwood.
Fellow freshman Rylan Griffen also scored 14 for the Crimson Tide, and point guard Mark Sears had 12 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. Freshman guard Jaden Bradley added 11 points and six boards.
Alabama held Longwood to 27% shooting and blocked nine shots. Michael Christmas led Longwood with 12 points.
NO. 21 OREGON 80, FLORIDA A&amp;M 45
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) &mdash; N&rsquo;Faly Dante had 16 points and 10 rebounds as Oregon opened with an easy win over Florida A&amp;M.
Keeshawn Barthelemy added 13 points for the Ducks, ranked to start the season for the ninth straight year. Will Richardson scored 11.
Jordan Tillmon and Jordan Chatman had eight points apiece for the Rattlers, who have 11 new players. Florida A&amp;M coach Robert McCullum was on Oregon coach Dana Altman&rsquo;s staff from 2014-17.
NO. 22 MICHIGAN 75, PURDUE FORT WAYNE 56
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) &mdash; Hunter Dickinson had 22 points and 12 rebounds, and freshman Jett Howard added 21 points in Michigan&rsquo;s season-opening win.
After Purdue Fort Wayne opened an 8-4 lead, Michigan went on a 20-0 run to take control.
Quinton Morton-Robertson scored 15 points and Bobby Planutis added 13 for the Mastodons.
NO. 23 ILLINOIS 87, EASTERN ILLINOIS 57
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) &mdash; Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 24 points and Coleman Hawkins had 23 points and 12 rebounds as Illinois cruised past Eastern Illinois.
Dain Dainja added 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Illini, who outrebounded the Panthers 53-30 in the opener for both teams.
Kinyon Hodges scored 14 points and Yaakema Rose added 10 for Eastern Illinois.
NO. 24 DAYTON 73, LINDENWOOD 46
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) &mdash; Mustapha Amzil scored 14 points, DaRon Holmes II and R.J. Blakney each had 13 and Dayton beat Lindenwood in a sluggish opener for both teams.
Dayton was without injured point guard Malachi Smith and didn&rsquo;t play particularly well until late, but it had a large margin for error against Lindenwood, which was playing its first game after moving up to Division I.
Chris Childs had 15 points for the Lions, who shot 33% from the field.
NO. 25 TEXAS TECH 73, NORTHWESTERN STATE 49
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) &mdash; Daniel Batcho had 12 points and 10 rebounds as Texas Tech rolled past Northwestern State in both teams&rsquo; opener.
Texas Tech broke it open late in the first half and led 42-23 at halftime.
Isaac Haney led Northwestern State with 16 points.

It was a quality start to a season of massive change for the Blue Devils, starting with Jon Scheyer taking over Duke's program.

Roach leads No. 7 Duke past Jacksonville in Scheyer’s debut

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) &mdash; Kansas had a reputation in some corners of college basketball as being a great regular-season team, one that would dominate the Big 12 and win high-profile non-conference games, only to struggle in the postseason.
The Jayhawks squelched all that talk in April.
Leaning on one of the most experienced lineups in the country, Bill Self guided the Jayhawks to the Final Four in New Orleans, where a historic comeback against North Carolina in the championship game allowed them to raise a banner in Allen Fieldhouse for the first time since 2008.
&ldquo;We talk about this all the time, you know, it&rsquo;s much easier to have a great team than a great program,&rdquo; Self said this week, &ldquo;because it&rsquo;s just a snippet of time and things could fall just right for one year, and you want to do it where there&rsquo;s a foundation of consistency that you can, you know, be in the game. And I think we&rsquo;ve done that. But still, though, in order to validate the first one you have to get a second one.&rdquo;
Self paused, smiled, then added: &ldquo;Then maybe to validate a second, you got to get a third one. I don&rsquo;t know.&rdquo;
Whether Self needs another on a resume that has already landed him in the Hall of Fame is up for debate. But regardless, that&rsquo;s exactly what the fifth-ranked Jayhawks are chasing when they open the season in a couple of weeks as defending champs.
&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t remember the first-round losses if you win titles,&rdquo; Self said, &ldquo;so we needed to do that to validate the success that we&rsquo;ve had throughout the course of many, many seasons. ... It certainly felt like a burden was lifted after we won.&rdquo;
The Jayhawks look a whole lot different, and younger, than they did a year ago.
Gone are veterans Ochai Agbaji and Christian Braun, both of them first-round NBA draft picks, along with space-eating big man David McCormack, ballhandler Remy Martin and veteran sharpshooter Jalen Coleman-Lands.
In their place are a bunch of youngsters surrounding Texas Tech transfer Kevin McCullar Jr. and returning starters Dajuan Harris Jr. and Jalen Wilson, making the Jayhawks one of the youngest teams in the country.
As the saying goes at Kansas, though, names and faces may change but the expectations are always the same.
&ldquo;All I want to do is reach that moment again,&rdquo; Wilson said of the title game. &ldquo;Coach talked about how fun it will be, you know, but you don&rsquo;t really understand until you get there. But once you get there, it&rsquo;s like, man, it&rsquo;s the greatest moment of your life. And so I have an opportunity to do it again. Motivates me every single day.&rdquo;
MORE ON MCCULLAR
A handful of players transferred within the Big 12 this past offseason, but perhaps nobody&rsquo;s decision made a bigger impact on two programs than McCullar. The defensive dynamo left a big void at Texas Tech by filling one at Kansas.
&ldquo;This is just the best fit for me, you know? I knew it was time for me (to move on),&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;to grow as a player. The next step in my journey was to compete for Coach Self. It was the best decision for me.&rdquo;
FRESH FACES
The Jayhawks brought in two forwards and two posts in a four-man recruiting class, and Self said all of them will play. The highest profile belongs to Gradey Dick, a 6-foot-7 shooter, while MJ Rice will remind Kansas fans of Wayne Selden. Six-foot-10 center Ernest Udeh Jr. and 6-8 big man Zuby Ejiofor will provide size in the paint.
HEY, I KNOW YOU
Because of their experience last season, the Jayhawks didn&rsquo;t need to rely on their talented 2021 recruiting class. But all four are back after a year in the program. Point guard Bobby Pettiford Jr. and forwards Zach Clemence and K.J. Adams Jr. played sparingly last season while Kyle Cuffe Jr. spent the year as a redshirt.
HEADS UP
The Jayhawks often played through McCormack in the paint last season, but without an established post presence, there&rsquo;s a good chance they will be hoisting up a lot of 3s this season. Even forwards such as Dick and Clemence that have size to guard a center almost prefer to shoot from the outside, and they have the touch to do it consistently.
SCHEDULE SITUATION
Kansas opens Nov. 7 against Omaha and faces North Dakota State before an early showdown with No. 7 Duke in the Champions Classic. The Jayhawks also have nonconference games against No. 13 Indiana and Seton Hall, their first trip in more than a decade to bitter rival Missouri and a trip to No. 4 Kentucky for the Big 12-SEC Challenge.

The Jayhawks look a whole lot different, and younger, than they did a year ago.

No. 5 Kansas out to defend national title with new roster

HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) &mdash; Victor Wembanyama didn&rsquo;t wait long to make an impression.
<a href="https://apnews.com/article/nba-sports-basketball-las-vegas-6f4ac3d44f624ef36ddb00e314cf0401" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The 7-foot-4 French phenomenon</a> from the club Metropolitans 92 blocked shots at the rim and on the perimeter, got rebounds, ran the floor, set screens, scored on a nifty spin move, showed off his ability to dribble, dove for a loose ball and even played point guard on one possession.
Oh, and all that was in the first two minutes. Talk about setting the tone.
The 200 scouts and NBA executives who came to see a show didn&rsquo;t have to pay for their tickets Tuesday night, but if they had, they wouldn&rsquo;t have been short-changed at any price. Wembanyama showed off all the skills that have him widely presumed to be the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft.
His final numbers: 37 points, 11-for-20 shooting, 7 three-pointers, 5 blocked shots, 4 rebounds.
The final score, as if it mattered: G League Ignite 120, Metropolitans 115, with Scoot Henderson &mdash; the consensus No. 2 pick, as of now anyway &mdash; finishing with 28 points and 9 assists for the Ignite.
The teams will play again Thursday afternoon; after that, the next time Wembanyama plays a game of any significance on U.S. soil will likely be at NBA Summer League next July.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
WHAT A DUEL Scoot Henderson &amp; Victor Wembanyama PUT ON A SHOW TONIGHT! <a href="https://t.co/jOApxyIJoD">pic.twitter.com/jOApxyIJoD</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1577516849826242562?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 5, 2022</a></blockquote>

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Much of the Wembanyama repertoire was on full display, and it was as good as advertised. He made three-pointers. Step-back jumpers. Did what seemed to be mildly reminiscent of the Michael Jordan shrug from the 1992 NBA Finals after one of those shots fell. Played through what appeared to be a bit of a twisted ankle, making a fadeaway three while doing so. He even argued foul calls like a seasoned NBA veteran and may have had a legitimate case on a couple occasions.
There are many ways for the 18-year-old to get better. But it&rsquo;s clear: He&rsquo;s ready for the NBA, ready for the scrutiny that will come going into the draft, the scrutiny that will come if he is indeed the No. 1 pick.
&ldquo;He&rsquo;s really a talented player,&rdquo; Ignite coach Jason Hart said.
Even the stuff that didn&rsquo;t show up next to Wembanyama&rsquo;s name in the box score was eye-popping at times. Case in point: a play midway through the second quarter when he set a pick near midcourt, rolled, caught a pass a couple inches inside the three-point line, took one dribble and went airborne &mdash; because by then, he was already in the middle of the lane. He tried to elevate over multiple Ignite players, took a shot, got fouled, shrugged off the contact and dunked the rebound.
It didn&rsquo;t count, but still had some sitting courtside reacting in disbelief.
There are always shows in Vegas, but Cirque du Soleil wasn&rsquo;t the French brand capturing the basketball world&rsquo;s attention on Tuesday night.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Back-to-back Splash 💦 Victor Wembanyama is up to 17 PTS 🔥 Watch Now on the NBA App and on ESPN 2 📲 <a href="https://t.co/WIy2EVFAUt">https://t.co/WIy2EVFAUt</a> <a href="https://t.co/V3d1hfHCeJ">pic.twitter.com/V3d1hfHCeJ</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1577502513657323520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 5, 2022</a></blockquote>

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San Antonio executive R.C. Buford and Oklahoma City general manager Sam Presti were chatting pregame. Chris Paul and Devin Booker, in town with the Phoenix Suns to play the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night, showed up to watch with seats near the Metropolitans bench. DeMarcus Cousins grabbed a seat near the Ignite bench. Chelsea Gray and A&rsquo;ja Wilson of the WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces &mdash; coming off a FIBA World Cup gold medal won a few days ago as well &mdash; watched from one of the baselines. The WNBA trophy even made an appearance.
And this wasn't just The Victor Show, either. Henderson believes he should be the No. 1 pick and had more than his share of moments. He got around Wembanyama's incredible 8-foot wingspan a couple times for layups, got him in the air to set up assists to Ignite teammates a couple more times, made a step-back three over him as well.
He also tried what would have been a dunk with 3:31 left. Wembanyama swatted it away with ease. Henderson also tried a 3 with 1:31 left; Wembanyama sent that into the seats.
But Henderson more than lived up to his end of the bargain in this made-for-TV showdown.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
Scoot Henderson hit the brakes! Get to the NBA App Now: <a href="https://t.co/WIy2EVoxSt">https://t.co/WIy2EVoxSt</a> <a href="https://t.co/BvffwiVWSo">pic.twitter.com/BvffwiVWSo</a>
&mdash; NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1577504502282059776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 5, 2022</a></blockquote>

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&ldquo;This game meant a lot to Scoot,&rdquo; said Ignite forward Shareef O&rsquo;Neal, the son of Hall of Famer Shaquille O&rsquo;Neal. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s my No. 1 pick.&rdquo;
Said Henderson: &ldquo;I feel like I impacted the game."
<div class="mceNonEditable"><spike>&nbsp;</spike></div>
Henderson showed some fire. He gave the Metropolitans&rsquo; bench a long look when time was called in the second quarter and the Ignite were starting to build their lead. Wembanyama had a little edge to him as well; he made a three-pointer from near the Ignite bench early in the second half, then turned and gave those seated there a look, then converted a four-point play on his next possession.
Nicolas Batum, who played for Metropolitans 92 coach Vincent Collet at the Tokyo Olympics in the summer of 2021 and the 2019 Basketball World Cup in China, tweeted this during the second half: &ldquo;One thing for sure is that the first 2 picks are LOCKED for the next NBA draft.&rdquo;
Much can change between now and June. But Batum's prediction seems pretty safe.
A Victor vs. Scoot show was what the NBA wanted. It delivered.

A Victor Wembanyama vs. Scoot Henderson showdown was what the NBA wanted, and both stars delivered.

Victor Wembanyama, Scoot Henderson showed repertoire as NBA watched

SYDNEY (AP) &mdash; The names on the U.S. team have changed, the Americans&rsquo; dominance has not.
A&rsquo;ja Wilson scored 19 points, Kelsey Plum added 17 and the United States beat China 83-61 on Saturday to win its fourth consecutive gold medal at the women&rsquo;s basketball World Cup.
&ldquo;It feels great,&rdquo; said Wilson, who was selected as the tournament&rsquo;s MVP. &ldquo;We came here on a mission, we got it. We got gold. Now we&rsquo;re going home with some hardware. It feels great to us. Australia was great to us. I didn&rsquo;t see any kangaroos, but it&rsquo;s OK because we are leaving with a gold.&rdquo;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
It never gets old 🏆 🇺🇸 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/USABWNT?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#USABWNT</a> x <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FIBAWWC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FIBAWWC</a> <a href="https://t.co/LLc1t7VMBs">pic.twitter.com/LLc1t7VMBs</a>
&mdash; USA Basketball (@usabasketball) <a href="https://twitter.com/usabasketball/status/1576164772810264576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 1, 2022</a></blockquote>

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This was one of the most dominant teams in the Americans&rsquo; storied history in the World Cup that now has won 11 gold medals. They&rsquo;ve won four straight gold medals for the first time. This also was the biggest win in a gold-medal game, surpassing the 20-point wins that the Americans had done twice.
&ldquo;Everybody wants to beat us. Everybody wants what we have and that&rsquo;s gold medals and victories,&rdquo; Breanna Stewart said.
What started with Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi has now been passed down to Wilson and Stewart. With Alyssa Thomas the oldest player at 30, the domination could continue for years to come.
&ldquo;It&rsquo;s been an incredible journey just to continue to lay that foundation down like so many of the greats in front of us have,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;Now it&rsquo;s our turn to step up and be in that situation.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Host Australia defeated Canada 95-65 to win the bronze medal, led by 41-year-old Lauren Jackson&rsquo;s 30 points.
As they&rsquo;ve done all tournament, the Americans did it on both ends of the court, playing stellar defense as well as using a high-powered offense.
The U.S. (8-0) finished the World Cup averaging 98.8 points &mdash; just short of the mark held by the 1994 team that averaged 99.1. They won by an average of 40.8 points, topping the mark held by the 2010 team.
The game was a sellout with nearly 16,000 fans &mdash; the biggest crowd to attend a women&rsquo;s World Cup game since the inaugural tournament in 1953 in Chile.
Led by Li Yueru and Wu Tongtong, China hung around. The Chinese team trailed 33-28 late in the second quarter before the U.S. went on a 10-2 run highlighted by fast-break layups by Stewart and Wilson to extend the advantage to double-digits.
Jin Weina hit a 3-pointer just before the halftime buzzer to get China back to within 10.
The U.S. was just too good to let the upset happen, outscoring China 25-14 in the third. The Americans did have one scary moment when Thomas went down after a collision with Li in the lane. She was helped off the court, but returned a few minutes later.
&ldquo;It was a tough game as we expected,&rdquo; Thomas said. &ldquo;By no means is this game easy. We stuck to it and pulled out a win.&rdquo;
China won its first medal since the 1994 World Cup when the team also took the silver and are a rising power in women&rsquo;s basketball. After the game, the team posed for a photo with their flag and men&rsquo;s great Yao Ming, who is the president of the Chinese Basketball Association.
Li finished with 19 points and Wu added 13 before leaving the game in the fourth quarter after her knee gave out driving to the basket. She had to be carried off the court.
The victory was the 30th in a row in World Cup play for the Americans, who haven&rsquo;t lost since the 2006 semifinals against Russia. The Soviet Union holds the World Cup record with 56 straight wins from 1959-86. This is only the second time in the Americans&rsquo; storied history they&rsquo;ve reached four consecutive gold medal contests. They also did it from 1979-90, winning three times.
This U.S. team, which has so many new faces, continued to dominate the paint even without 6-foot-8 Brittney Griner, outscoring its opponents by an average of 55-24.
The teams met in pool play and China gave the U.S. its toughest game, losing by 14 points.
CHAMPIONSHIP PEDIGREE
Wilson, Chelsea Gray and Plum are part of an incredible group that won a World Cup and WNBA title in the same year. There have been 14 total now.
HONORING GRINER
&ldquo;This is for BG. I hope BG knows she&rsquo;s in our thoughts,&rdquo; Stewart said. &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t wait for her to come home and hoping that she&rsquo;s going to be home as soon as possible. BG, we got the gold for you and we miss you and we love you.&rdquo;
Griner was sentenced in August to nine years in a Russian prison after she was convicted of drug possession. The U.S. honored her by not having anyone wear her No. 15 on the roster.
WOMEN&rsquo;S WORLD
FIBA Secretary General Andreas Zagklis was pleased that half of the officials in the tournament were female and five of the 12 head coaches were women. Both China and the U.S. had women in charge of their teams, the second straight time that two female coaches made it to the gold-medal game.
MISSING IN ACTION
The U.S. was without Kahleah Copper for the second straight game after injuring her left hip in the win over Serbia in the quarterfinals. Copper landed hard on her hip driving to the basket and had to be helped off the court. China was missing its star guard Li Meng, who sat out a second consecutive game with what Chinese media reported as having a fever due to body fatigue.&nbsp;

A’ja Wilson scored 19 points, Kelsey Plum added 17 and the United States beat China 83-61 to win its fourth consecutive gold medal.

U.S. women win fourth straight gold at World Cup, top China

The stage is set with 6:24 left in Game 4 of the WNBA Finals.
The Las Vegas Aces hold a 60-59 lead coming out of a timeout, and have just put their knockout lineup on the floor. Their small unit &mdash; Chelsea Gray, Kelsey Plum, Riquna Williams, Jackie Young and A'ja Wilson &mdash; will be tasked with bringing things home.
On the other side, the Connecticut Sun are rolling with their big unit. Courtney Williams, DeWanna Bonner, Alyssa Thomas, Brionna Jones and Jonquel Jones &mdash; a group that shrinks the floor for the opposition and bludgeons them in the paint &mdash; pose a significant challenge. It's the starkest example of the stylistic clash this series represents.
The Aces have to work on their first possession. Gray brings the ball up the floor while being hounded by Thomas. Plum comes to set a screen for Gray in an effort to pry Thomas away &mdash; and put Courtney Williams in the action &mdash; but Thomas stays attached. Plum eventually gets the ball and drills a tough pull-up triple over Williams, but the shot comes nearly 20 seconds into the possession.
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But that possession is instructive for the Aces. They recognize that the Sun aren't going to allow Gray to beat them. And while they'd love to get Wilson involved as a screener, doing so consistently would invite even more size and length for Gray to have to navigate.
Roughly a minute later, the Aces push after a miss. Gray is once again hounded by Thomas, so the Aces counter with a pair of early drag screens. Wilson sets the first, while Riquna Williams sets the second. Gray is able to get downhill and drag Williams' defender, Jonquel Jones, with her.
A switch is forced as Gray loops around the paint, kicks the ball to Young and receives it back on the left wing. The Sun don't want Jones defending Gray, so Thomas peels over to trap her. Mayhem occurs from there: Gray's pass to the now-open Williams is deflected, but recovered. Young ends up with the ball and pump fakes, then, cans a crucial pull-up jumper.
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It's at that moment the Aces know that Riquna Williams is the pressure point that will bring them home. Or, more coldly: They know Jonquel Jones is the player they want to attack in space.
You know the rest of the story by now. The Aces find gold with Williams setting screens and flaring out above the three-point line. She would finish the game with 17 points, 11 of them coming in the fourth quarter and 8 of those coming in the final two minutes.
For all the discussion about the Aces' bench throughout the season, it's at least a little funny that a bench player slammed the door of a closeout Finals game.&nbsp;
The buckets from Williams were loud, but the calculated nature of the Aces' attack is what spoke loudest to me. Sun head coach Curt Miller described the Aces' offensive attack as "NBA-like'' when asked about it<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/wnba-finals-2022-catching-up-coach-curt-miller-connecticut-sun-las-vegas-aces-jonquel-jones-alyssa-thomas-dewanna-bonner" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> ahead of Game 2</a>. He made a similar comparison when asked about the guard-guard screens the Aces ran to close out Game 4.
"The guard-to-guard screens, as they ghosted out of a lot of them, tried to put us in rotation," Miller told Basketball News after the game."
&ldquo;They were searching. They were trying to get some switches to the matchup advantage they were looking for. That was the chess match. Then, as we went big, they started to put different bigs in that action also. Ultimately, a lot of that pro mentality that leaps into the league from the NBA. We become a copycat league, and that was the action they chose to run late."&nbsp;
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Considering the recent background of Aces head coach Becky Hammon &mdash; she was hired as a San Antonio Spurs assistant coach under Gregg Popovich in 2014, and held the position until taking the Aces job this year &mdash; it makes sense that there were NBA elements to her game plan. When asked about coaches that influenced her style, Hammon referenced some of the top coaches in the NBA.
"I really liked watching Brad Stevens, when he was coaching, obviously. Quin Snyder, [Erik] Spoelstra, Mike Malone. There have been a lot of people that I've watched over the years," Hammon told Basketball News.
"I was in San Antonio for eight years. That's close to 700 games; and that's just our games, not me watching other teams' games for scouting purposes. It's a lot of basketball, so you just see certain things along the way. Some of them are stolen right off the page; other ones, I tweak and put different things in different places."
Look at the coaches referenced from Hammon, and you'll see some fingerprints.
Guard screening, on and off the ball, has been <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/changing-of-the-guard-the-future-of-screening-is-here" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on the rise in the NBA</a> for quite some time. The type of mismatch hunting the Aces utilized down the stretch of Game 4 is commonplace in the NBA, particularly in the playoffs.&nbsp;
During Hammon's last season as an NBA assistant (2020-21), Synder's Utah Jazz (17.3 per 100 possessions), Stevens' Boston Celtics (13.4), and Spoelstra's Miami Heat (10.6) all ranked in the top 10 in on-ball screens set by guards per Second Spectrum. That trend holds with off-ball screens, with the Heat (23.0), Malone's Nuggets (20.8) and the Celtics (19.2) populating the top 10.&nbsp;
You'll have to hone in on the ATOs to see some of the "stolen off the page" examples, like Hammon using the "Winner" set that <a href="https://youtu.be/c7i0Fs7QfgY" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stevens' Celtics popularized</a> during the semifinals against the Seattle Storm.
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This doozy was also pulled out against the Storm, a nice call-back to a set ran by Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr &mdash; another Popovich disciple.
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A brilliant ATO drawn up by Becky Hammon gave the Las Vegas Aces a crucial basket against the Seattle Storm last night. It looked like a familiar play... because Steve Kerr also drew it up for the Golden State Warriors a couple of months ago vs. the Memphis Grizzlies. <a href="https://t.co/ibjMZL2pOk">pic.twitter.com/ibjMZL2pOk</a>
&mdash; Joe Viray (@JoeVirayNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoeVirayNBA/status/1566818735465172992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2022</a></blockquote>

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But the broader concepts &mdash; the way Hammon uses her stars together to put strain on defenses &mdash; really shine through with the examples she used.
The Aces loved to use "Get" action &mdash; a pitch to a guard that flows into a handoff and next flows into a ball-screen &mdash; as part of their early offensive strategy. That was a Snyder staple in Utah, one used to get Donovan Mitchell (or Mike Conley) downhill against a titled defense.
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There were the Plum screens set for Wilson to pry her free. Between traditional cross screens, pindowns inside the arc and random pin-in screens on the perimeter, you can easily draw parallels between those two and the two-man actions we'd see from Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic under Malone.
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I'd wager the Spoelstra influence is felt more on the defensive side of the ball. He's one of the brightest defensive minds in NBA history, with his hallmark being his team's versatility.
The Aces certainly embodied that, eschewing their conservative style from last season to more of a hybrid system. They were aggressive against ball-screens &mdash; until they weren't. They deployed drop coverage, until they wanted to switch.
There was zone. So much zone &mdash; another Spoelstra hallmark.
(It's also worth noting it's a Ty Lue staple. Aces assistant coach Natalie Nakase brought her experience as a Clippers assistant coach &mdash; among other stops &mdash; with her this season.)
While Riquna Williams was bombing away on one end, the Aces went to a zone to close things out on the other end. That often left Gray, Williams and Young battling on the boards against the Sun's massive frontcourt. This possession still rings in my head.
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When asked about the process about implementing such a varied style, Hammon said she wanted to keep everyone &mdash; her opponents and her team &mdash; on their toes.&nbsp;
"When I went back and watched, obviously, a lot of games from the last year, and just me watching the WNBA over the last eight seasons since I've left, really, [it was] just something to mix things up," Hammon told Basketball News.
"You know, we've tried different defenses on Steph Curry, Dame Lillard. If we can junk it on them, we can junk it on anybody. It was just an idea to try to give people a different look to try to mix it up."
While the schematic shifts and tactical excellence was easy to see this year, it would all be moot without getting commitment from her players. If there's a through line between Hammon and the coaches she referenced, it's the ability to engage players and get them to buy in.
"I think the bigger thing is the players really bought into it," Hammon told Basketball News about the defense.
"It doesn't matter what scheme you're doing; the players have to believe in it. I think, at the end of the day, they saw enough good results. There were times when Chelsea was calling the defense, junk defense. I'm not even putting us in junk; she's putting us in junk. It's a fun way to play and it keeps the players locked in and alert because we do switch it up quite a bit."
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Nakase recently <a href="https://www.ocregister.com/2022/09/20/swanson-becky-hammon-proved-she-can-lead-a-winning-team-next-up-someday-the-nba/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">echoed those sentiments</a>, saying Hammon's "ability to get buy-in is probably the fastest I&rsquo;ve ever seen." That's strong praise for a coach who's spent time working with Lue and Doc Rivers.
It's hard to overstate how good of a job Hammon has done in Year 1. While it would be easy to highlight how foolish some NBA decision-makers should feel for not offering Hammon a head coaching job &mdash; they absolutely should feel foolish &mdash; it's worth celebrating how she flipped the slight on its head.&nbsp;
"I mean, my journey is not by mistake," Hammon said after Game 4. "Every hard thing that I've gone through has built something in me that I've needed down the road, and even though it sucks in the moment to not to be picked or to get hurt or whatever it might be, the hard stuff builds stuff in you that's necessary for life and you'll use it down the road. It may not feel like it in that moment.
"For me, it's not really about proving other people wrong, it's about proving myself right. If you guys haven't figured out yet, I don't really care."
A wonderful bar from a wonderful coach to cap a wonderful debut season.

Nekias Duncan talks to Aces head coach Becky Hammon about some of her NBA influences, then showcases examples.

Becky Hammon's NBA coaching influences showed in Aces' WNBA title run

UNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) &mdash; Chelsea Gray scored 20 points to lead the Las Vegas Aces to their first WNBA title in a 78-71 road win over the Connecticut Sun in Game 4 on Sunday.
Gray went 9 of 13 from the floor, and was named MVP after averaging 18 points over the run. The Aces improved to 4-0 in this year&rsquo;s playoffs with two days rest.
Riquna Williams added 17 points Kelsey Plum added 16 points for the Aces, Jackie Young had 13 and league MVP A&rsquo;ja Wilson added 11 points to go with 14 rebounds.
Vegas finished on an 8-0 run. As the buzzer sounded Wilson grabbed the ball and stomped the floor before being mobbed by her teammates.
We champs! We champs! We champs!&rdquo; Wilson screamed at teammates as they pulled on their championship hats and T-shirts before the trophy ceremony.
It&rsquo;s the first major pro sports title for a team from Las Vegas, and Wilson surely hopes this is just the beginning.
&ldquo;You see it. You see it,&rdquo; Wilson said in the on-court celebration. &ldquo;This is what we&rsquo;re building. This is what we&rsquo;re doing. This is it. I&rsquo;m so happy right now.&rdquo;
Courtney Williams had 17 points to lead Connecticut and Alyssa Thomas had her second straight triple-double with 11 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds. Jonquel Jones added 13 points and DeWanna Bonner had 12.
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Las Vegas led by two points at the half and four points after three quarters.
For Aces coach Becky Hammon, who didn&rsquo;t get a title in her standout WNBA career, the ring completed a decades-long quest. She left an assistant coach position with Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs to take over in Las Vegas, and the move paid off.
&ldquo;They&rsquo;re unbelievable on the court but they&rsquo;re unbelievable humans, first and foremost,&rdquo; Hammon said. &ldquo;They care about each other. They invest in each other. It&rsquo;s been an absolute honor to be their coach. I saw excellence and I wanted to be a part of it.&rdquo;
Hammon also paid tribute to former Aces coach Bill Laimbeer, who was on the floor for the ceremony. &ldquo;He put this team together and saw the pieces,&rdquo; Hammon said.
Aces owner Mark Davis, who also owns the NFL&rsquo;s Las Vegas Raiders, wasn&rsquo;t with his football team Sunday. He was in Connecticut to get a trophy. He hoisted it, then turned it over to gleeful players who did the same.
&ldquo;Las Vegas, we are world champions,&rdquo; Davis said.
It was a six-point lead in the fourth when Kelsey Plum was called for a flagrant foul after running into Bonner while the Sun guard was attempting a 3-pointer and sending her to the floor holding her right ankle. Bonner hit all three free throws before Jonquel Jones short jumper cut the lead to a point. The Sun then tied the game at 67 on free throw by Courtney Williams and took a 71-70 lead on two fouls shots from Brionna Jones.
But Las Vegas had the answers.
Riquna Williams 3-pointer put the Aces back on top and Chelsea Gray&rsquo;s step-back jumper extended the lead back to 75-71 with under a minute left A&rsquo;Ja Wilson then stole a pass and Plum hit a short jump shot to secure the win.
Bonner opened the scoring with a leaner from the left wing. But Kelsey Plum&rsquo;s 3-pointer from the left baseline sparked an early 12-0 run for Vegas that shot them out to a 16-6 lead. The Aces, who gave up 34 points to the Sun in in first quarter of Game 3, led 16-12 after 10 minutes on Sunday.
Gray &mdash; who overcame some serious injuries that threatened to sidetrack her career in the past &mdash; was WNBA Finals MVP, to no one&rsquo;s surprise after averaging 18.3 points and 6 assists in the series.
&ldquo;My teammates are awesome,&rdquo; Gray said as she broke into tears. &ldquo;I worked so hard for this.&rdquo;
She wasn&rsquo;t a WNBA All-Star this season, nor was she a first-team all-league pick, and voiced her displeasure about that.
In the end, she also got the last word.
&ldquo;They can keep that All-Star and first team,&rdquo; Gray said. &ldquo;I got the ring.&rdquo;
SCRAPPY GAME
As expected, it was a physical game appropriately played on an NFL Sunday. The Sun got a scare when Bonner took an inadvertent elbow to the gut from Gray late in the first quarter and and was on the floor for a few minutes before being helped to the bench. She came back into the game later in the half, apparently suffering no ill effects. Natisha Hiedeman and Plum got into a short pushing match in the second quarter, eliciting technical fouls on both players. That was all before Plum&rsquo;s flagrant in the fourth.
INCLUSIVE ORGANIZATIONS
Before the game, both coaches reflected on the makeup of organizations in the Final. The Aces are led by Hammon and two Black women executives in general manager Nikki Williams and Nikki Fargas, president of business operations. The Sun are owned by the Mohegan Tribe, have a woman president in Jen Rizzotti and are coached by Curt Miller, a gay man.
&ldquo;Women&rsquo;s basketball is such a story in terms of diversity and inclusion. I mean, our our league defines it and I&rsquo;m so proud to be a part of it, Miller said, adding that he hopes to be an inspiration to any gay child &ldquo;wondering if they can chase a career in sports.&rdquo;
Hammon said she believes the diversity in her team&rsquo;s front office has made it stronger.
&ldquo;You can make a lot better picture with a box full of crayons than just a pencil,&rdquo; she said.
RAIDERS&rsquo; SUPPORT
The start of the celebration was shown on the video screens at the Raiders&rsquo; stadium during the NFL game against Arizona on Sunday, with fans breaking into loud cheers. They can cheer more in a few days: a parade on the Las Vegas Strip is planned for Thursday evening.
&ldquo;What a team, what talent, what a victory! You have made Las Vegas so proud!&rdquo; Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman said in a statement. &ldquo;Thank you for your effort, discipline &amp; focus. We can&rsquo;t wait for the celebrations &amp; a great parade!&rdquo;
TIP-INS
The Aces are the fourth WNBA team to win a title with both a league MVP and coach of the year ... The Sun have been among the last four WNBA teams standing for each of the last four seasons, making it back to the Finals for the first time since 2019.

The Aces took down the Connecticut Sun in Game 4 of the WNBA Finals on Sunday.